[AAACE-NLA] Literacy President petition: what have we learned?

[DJRosen@TheWorld.com]

Colleagues,

I am beginning to get some responses from those who worked to get Literacy
President petition signatures, but I haven't heard yet from Delaware,
Pennsylvania and Illinois. Of course I would like to hear from all the
states that were involved in trying to get signatures on the petition.

• What did you learn from this?
• How did you get participation?
• What were your strategies?
• What were the challenges?
• How did you overcome the challenges (if you did) ?

If you want to send your responses to me, if I get enough I'll compile a
summary stripping out specifics that would identify comments with
individuals or states.

I know that some states and programs were challenged in helping adult
learners get access to -- and learn how to use -- computers to answer the
survey.

• What were the specific challenges?
• What did you do to address them?
• What will you do to prepare for petitions in the future so that more
adult learners have the choice of signing them?

David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
djrosen at theworld.com

-----
On Dec 19, 2007, at 10:30 AM, I wrote:

Hello Jon and others,

Although we did not reach the goal, this number of signatures is
respectable especially since, as far as I know, it is the first time
that any organization has tried a national petition from our field.
Congratulations to VALUE for providing the leadership and thank you,
Jon, for posting the updates and reminders here.

Let's hear from Delaware, Pennsylvania and Illinois especially, but
also from other states: how did you get the participation?  What were
your strategies? We can all benefit from your experience so that we
can apply it next time to reach a 10,000 signature goal.

David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
DJRosen at theworld.com

On Dec 18, 2007, at 8:33 PM, Jon Randall wrote:


The signatures have been downloaded and document prep is underway for
tomorrow's in-person delivery to 2008 Presidential candidates with
offices in Washington, DC. All candidates will receive electronic
versions of the petition.

The final count ... 5,796 persons have signed the Literacy President
Petition, urging all of the 2008 Presidential candidates to answer 5
questions regarding what their adult literacy policy will be, once
they
are elected President. Thank you to everyone who signed the
petition and
encouraged others to do so too.

Final state tallies ...

Delaware poured it on in the final days, ending up with 994
signatures!
Pennsylvania came in second, with 562. Illinois came in third, with
514.

The second tier includes: New York (376); Kentucky (371); Tennessee
(362); and Massachusetts (352).

The third tier includes: Arizona (189); North Carolina (166); the
District of Columbia (161); California (143); New Hampshire (127); New
Jersey (124); and Vermont (119).

In the basement, with fewer than 100 signatues since the petition was
launched on November 3rd ...

(level A, 75-99) ... KS = 97; MO & RI = 88 each; MD = 81

(level B, 50-74) ... FL = 69; ME = 68; SC = 66; WA = 60; ND = 56; IA =
52; MT = 51

(level C, 25-49) ... IN = 44; LA = 38; VA = 33; TX - 32; CT = 27; GA =
26; WV = 25

(level D, 1-24) ... NM = 23; SD = 22; CO & MN = 19 each; MI, OH & WI =
18 each; NV = 15; AK = 14; HI = 11; AL & OK = 10 each; UT = 9; AR &
OR =
7 each; WY = 5; MS & NE = 4 each; ID = 3

The final petition will soon be on the VALUE web site as a PDF
document.
We will also post pictures of VALUE staff and Board members
hand-delivering the petition.

Thanks for all of your efforts.

- Jon

Jon Randall
VALUE Consultant
jrandall at valueusa.org


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David Rosen
DJRosen at theworld.com