National Coalition for Literacy

By Jackie Taylor and Washington Partners

Advocacy

The following alerts are live; act now on them:

• Save Even Start
• Congressional Visit Campaign

If the 2-week stop-gap continuing resolution (CR) is passed without changes to Even Start, then Even Start will be eliminated. In addition to calling your legislators to save Even Start, it is critical that we get all Members of Congress to visit adult education and family literacy programs while they are back home. Congress has scheduled Constituent Work Weeks each month for legislators to travel back…

By Jackie Taylor

Friends and colleagues,

We are up against a tough Congress that has strong momentum for cutting spending. Additionally, NCL heard that WIA reauthorization is likely to be one of the first items to be considered in the new Congress. Does your Member of Congress have the most recent information on adult education in your community? It’s time to update the 112^th Congress about the importance of adult education before they are faced with difficult decisions that will impact it.

Action Request:

Who: Program

…

By Kevin Talley and Jackie Taylor

The House and Senate are finalizing a short term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through March 4, 2011. A more conservative 112^th Congress will make the funding decisions to finish out the FY11 program year. Many of these Members were elected on promises of slashing spending. This leaves adult education and family literacy funding in a vulnerable and uncertain state. In particular, Even Start (ES) historically has been targeted, among other small education programs, for cuts.

You can take the following steps now to elevate the…

The following Members have joined the House Adult Literacy Caucus to date:

• Dan Maffei (D-NY), Co-Chair and Sponsor
• Phil Roe (R-TN), Co-Chair
• Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
  
• Donna Edwards (D-MD)
• Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)
• Alan Grayson (D-FL)
• Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
• Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX)
• Hank Johnson (D-GA)
• John Olver (D-MA)
• Bill Owens (D-NY)
• Jared Polis (D-CO)
• David Price (D-NC)
• C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D – MD)
• John Sarbanes (D-MD)
• Harry Teague (D-NM)
• Paul Tonko (D-NY)
• Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
• Ed Whitfield (R-KY)
• John Yarmuth (D-KY)

Five MD House Members have joined thus far (good work!). Hats off also to…

Adult Literacy Advocates:

We have some exciting news for you! Congressman Dan Maffei (D-NY) is sponsoring an Adult Literacy Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives!

Congressional caucuses are organizations for Members of Congress to advance causes that are important to them. A House caucus is a group of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who share something in common, whether personal (ex: the Congressional Hispanic Caucus), related to a district’s needs (the Congressional Rural Caucus) or about House Members’ interests or concerns, like the new Adult Literacy Caucus.

Now that Congressman Maffei has formed the House…

Update and Thanks!

Dear Adult Literacy Advocates:

Thank you to all who contacted their Members of Congress in response to alerts on this issue. Your calls made a difference!

Special thanks to advocates in Colorado for their advocacy work with Congressman Polis. Congratulations to advocates in New York, Arizona, Texas, California, Maryland, Kentucky, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Maine, DC, Minnesota, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Tennessee and the Northern Mariana Islands who cinched commitments from House members to co-sponsor the resolution (H. Res. 1472).

If your House Member co-sponsored the resolution, now is a good time to follow up with a note

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The National Coalition for Literacy requests immediate action now on Appropriations for Adult Education and Family Literacy:

Action: Please call, email, or fax your two Senators with this message:

“Please increase funding for adult education to at least $750 million to provide services to potential students placed on waiting list for services.”

Talk about the need and demand for services in your area. Share the 2009-2010 NCSDAE Adult Student Waiting List Survey and discuss the waiting list numbers in your program or

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Urge Congress to Reauthorize WIA NOW!

Weigh in: What Changes in Adult Education Do You Want Most?

Deadline: January 15, 2009

The Workforce Investment Act, Title II—the legislation that makes federally funded adult education programs possible—hasn’t changed since it was first authorized in 1998. Thanks to your advocacy efforts, Congress is now working to change it. Now it is time to tell Congress what changes you want to see most in adult education programs.

Remember, this is reauthorization, not appropriations. We will ask you to weigh in…