National Coalition for Literacy

By Jackie Taylor

Appropriations

Members of the Senate voted 69-30 on Tuesday evening, September 28, to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep government operating until Dec. 3.

The House passed a CR  on Wednesday and Congress is on recess until after the November 2 elections. They are expected to be back the week of November 15, then on recess for the week of November 22, and return the week of November 29 until the 111^th Congress is done.

Congress passes a CR when appropriations bills are not passed by October 1, in order to continue funding the federal government into the next fiscal year and avoid a shutdown. A useful overview of the Budget and Appropriations process can be found here in the NCL Advocacy Toolkit.

WIA Reauthorization

WIA reauthorization remains on hold. However, we still hope to see the Senate version of WIA reauthorization released later this year. Once the Senate releases its version, the House staff plan to publish an outline or white paper for WIA reauthorization. This should provide a starting point for advancing WIA reauthorization in the new Congress.

Advocates who have House Members on the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness or Senators on the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety should continue to remind them that WIA reauthorization is important to them and that this should move forward early in the 112^th Congress. You can find out if your legislators are on either of these key committees by visiting the Key Legislators’ page in the NCL Toolkit.

NCL has shared the Guest Blog Discussion on WIA Reauthorization—What is a priority for you? (posts and the field’s comments) with staff over WIA Reauthorization. Thank you to all who contributed to these discussions. We hope this sparks discussion with these key staffs as they continue their WIA reauthorization work.

New Adult Literacy Caucus Forms in the House

Congressman Dan Maffei (D-NY) and Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN) have formed a bipartisan House Adult Literacy Caucus; Congressman Maffei announced it at the NCL Literacy Leadership Awards reception September 15. A total of 13 additional House Members have joined thus far:  Several from MD, NY and KY. AZ, CO, NC, NM, and TX are also represented on the caucus.

We should continue to advocate for House Members to join the caucus while they are home on recess, in order to gain broad representation on the caucus from every state.

See the latest Caucus Update and Alert for the most recent list of caucus members-to-date.

Contact your House Member today.

Deadline: November 2, Election Day

Polis Commits to Sponsoring National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week in 2011

As you may know, Congressman Jared Polis led the US House of Representatives in dedicating National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week for two consecutive years. However, the House must repeat the process each year in order to make this dedication.

At the Literacy Leadership Awards on September 15, Spiros Protopsaltis, Senior Policy Advisor with Congressman Polis, shared Congressman Polis’ commitment to sponsor it again in 2011, “I look forward to working with you to strengthen and improve adult education and family literacy during the upcoming Workforce Investment Act reauthorization and to making next year’s national week an even bigger success!”

Thank you to everyone who participated in National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2010. See this summary for a recap and to access a wide collection of links to events and activities that took place nationwide.

NRS Reform

In August, NCL wrote Assistant Secretary Brenda Dann-Messier requesting the opportunity for broader field input on NRS reform, to which she responded favorably. NCL replied to the Assistant Secretary’s letter and shared NCL’s Response to OVAE’s NRS Recommendations.

NEW: Elections Resource from The Change Agent

The Change Agent has created a free mini-magazine for adult learners and adult education advocates that you should find useful in the classroom and in your advocacy work. It contains information on the following:

• The government, voting, and midterm elections
• What’s at stake for adult education in the 2010 elections

See the article on page 10 by Art Ellison, NH State Director and NCL Executive Board Member. In Midterm Elections: Consequences for Adult Education Ellison discusses what adult education advocates should know for the coming election, including lists of key House and Senate Members running for re-election.

“The adult education field has a strong interest in the outcome of the upcoming election. Several of our champions in the U.S. Congress and key mem­bers of the Appropriations and Health, Education, and Labor Committees are retiring or are in tough reelection bids to keep their seats. Also, our law­makers will be making some important decisions about how adult education will be funded,” he writes.

Use this resource to help adult learners explore elections issues. Plan to participate in the upcoming elections.

Also available free for download from The Change Agent website.

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Public Policy and Advocacy Updates

NCL is also posting advocacy facts, public policy updates, reports, and resources on Twitter that are useful in building support for adult education and family literacy. Oftentimes this is the first venue we use to disseminate the news in order to get it out fast. You can follow NCL on Twitter @NCLAdvocacy. Not on Twitter? Sign up (free).