[AAACE-NLA] New Hampshire state adult ed funding up 75%!

Mon Jul 13 08:57:19 EDT 2009

Ryan, 

  Both good questions!

 The first is one that comes up frequently in our advocacy work. As
usual, in these situations, the answer is not one yes or no but a series
of answers.  Jackie Taylor's earlier comment is correct, you cannot
lobby with federal funds however there are a number of considerations
that make advocacy not only permissible but needed.

 Advocacy is not lobbying. Approximately 90% of the work that we do to
support additional resources for adult education is advocacy. Students
writing letters to legislators thanking them for their past support and
explaining the current benefits of the program to their futures is not
lobbying. Local program directors contacting legislators with end of the
year data from their program and asking them to attend graduation is not
lobbying. Adult education program staff telling legislators how their
classes benefit a wide variety of students is not lobbying. 

 The restriction on using federal funds for lobbying is the major reason
that some states use their professional adult education organizations to
coordinate and carry out both advocacy and lobbying activities. There is
also that in most states there is much more state funding available,
which often does not come with the same strict requirements around
lobbying activities. 

 In New Hampshire political literacy is an integral part of our adult
education programs. We include that as a goal alone with all of the
other literacy's with which we are working, (math, writing, financial,
health, etc.)  Probably the best indication of the integration of
political literacy in our work is the fact that most of our programs now
work with students on letter writing skills by creating letters to
legislators rather than the old business letter lesson. 

 We should also all be aware that private not for profit organizations,
those with 501,3,c status with the IRS can us up to 10% of their budgets
for lobbying.

 In those cases where actual lobbying activities need to take place
during an advocacy campaign, adult education students and staff can move
the entire operation to their home computers, telephones and use their
own funds for whatever postage might be necessary.  There cannot be ANY
RESTRICTIONS on the advocacy/lobbying activities that an adult educator
or student carries out on their own time. The key here is that when
there is a need for action, 50 contacts with a key member of a
legislative appropriations committee, that the contacts are made within
the needed time frame, through whatever arrangements are necessary.

 Students take place in these campaigns with their teachers, directors
and local supporters of adult education. Local programs are set up for
the advocacy work to take place on both a long and sort term basis,
whenever the state level advocacy network determines that action is
needed. The information flows from a state coordinating committee, to
each local program director, then to individual teachers, and on to
students. Our programs are very clear that part of political literacy is
understanding how government at all levels has a process for determining
how their tax dollars will be spent AND THAT THEY HAVE A RIGHT AND
OBLIGATION as good citizens to participate in that process. If they do
not participate in that process then someone else will make the
decisions for them, an all together too frequence occurrence in their
lives. 

 It will not come as a surprise that our local programs focus helping
students register to vote, encouraging them to vote and helping them to
cast educated votes on every Election Day.  New Hampshire participates
every two years, along with the other five New England states, in the
VERA (Voter Education, Research and Action) Campaign sponsored by the
New England Literacy Resource Center. In each of the last two
Presidential elections approximately 85% of the registered voters in New
Hampshire's adult education programs have voted.

 This is probably much more than you wanted to know.   Art Ellison, NH
Literacy Task Force

________________________________

From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Hall
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 10:26 AM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] New Hampshire state adult ed funding up 75%!

Thank you for sharing all this information, Art. I have two questions
that I'm wondering if you or others can answer:

1. From what you wrote, it looks like adult education employees were
very involved in the advocacy activities. I am under the impression that
employees of state/government-funded programs can't participate in
advocacy activities. Am I mistaken? I'm wondering if someone can clarify
this for me. What, if anything, are employees of state or
federally-funded programs allowed to do in terms of advocacy?

2. You also wrote that 4000 of 7000 students were involved in the
advocacy campaign. Can you explain how the students got involved- what
did they do, who organized them, etc.?

Thanks!
Ryan

On 7/10/09 10:03 AM, "Ellison, Art" <AEllison at ed.state.nh.us> wrote:

This may be more information than David was anticipating, but here we
go.

Listed below are the key elements in the recent advocacy campaign that
resulted in the 75% increase in state funding for adult education in New
Hampshire. There is a long history of advocacy in the adult education
community throughout New Hampshire so the campaign described below is
only the most recent and most successful of those efforts.

We start early 

  This campaign began the day after the election last November with
letters of congratulations to the Governor and all members of the state
legislature on their election/reelection. It is difficult to find a
start and end date for this work since it is pretty much constant, but
our starting date is always every two years the day after the election. 

Students must be Involved

 80% of the contacts in any successful advocacy campaign at the state
level will come from students. They are the best and most successful
advocates for their programs and needs. In the past campaign we had the
active involvement of approximately 4,000 of the 7,000 students enrolled
in the past year.

There must be a Core Group of People Coordinating the Campaign

In New Hampshire this task is carried out by the NH Literacy Task Force
which is made up of the directors of the largest adult education
programs in the state.

Targeting

While contacts are made with every legislator (we have 400 in the NH
House and 24 in the NH Senate) special efforts were made to insure that
all members of key committees and subcommittees are strong supporters of
adult education. In the recent campaign the 8 members of the NH House
Finance Sub-Committee dealing with adult education and the 5 members of
the similar sub-committee in the Senate became the highest priorities
for the work of adult educators, students and allies in the communities
from those districts. The party leaders in both houses and the
memberships of the two Education Committees also went onto the targeted
list for contacts. In order to make the targeting work, local adult
education programs have to be aligned with the targeted legislators. 

Timing

It is very important that the advocacy system understands how a
budget/legislation moves through the process. In New Hampshire the
Governor submits his or her budget to the legislature on the first
Monday in February; it goes to the Finance Sub-committee in the House,
then to the full Finance Committee, then to the full House. In about mid
April the Senate begins active consideration of the budget, roughly
following the same process as the House. In late June the House and
Senate agree on the budget which is then sent to the Governor for
his/her approval or veto.

Rule of Six

All directors of local adult education programs make at least six
contacts with each state legislator during the course of the year. These
typically are: letters of congratulations on the election, inviting the
legislator to visit the program, an end of the year report on the
program accomplishments, inviting the legislator to the end of the year
graduation, a list of the graduates from the program, a request to
support the funding increase requested by the field, etc.

Threshold Number

It is important for advocates to know the "threshold number" of contacts
that each legislator should receive to make them aware of the importance
of adult education or any issue.  In state like New Hampshire that
number is 8, but even in larger states the number rarely goes above 50
and more often or not it is in the 20-25 range. The way to find out this
number is to ask those legislators that are friendly to adult education.

Indentify Allies in the Community Who Will Help Carry the Message

It takes some time and effort to identify those allies in the community
who will be willing to support the campaign's request for additional
funding. In New Hampshire and other states the list is long and varied:
businesses that have been involved with adult education programs over
the years, social service agencies, chambers of commerce, hospitals, law
firms, utilities, higher education institutions, banks, etc.

Focus on the Governor

It is much easier to get the legislature to support an increase in
funding if at least some of it is included in the Governor's budget that
is submitted to the legislature. This means that an early part of the
campaign must focus on the Governor. 

Indentify the Champions in the Legislature

The champions for adult education in both houses of the legislature are
the best messengers to convince their fellow members to support the
request for additional funding. 

Key Elements of the Recent Campaign

The use of postcards

 8,000 thank you postcards were sent to the Governor and legislature
during the campaign (2,000 to the Governor in the two weeks before he
sent his budget to the legislature and 6,000 to the members of the House
and Senate as the budget was going through the legislative process.

Individual letters to Governor and legislature

Approximately 3.000 letters went from individual students to the
Governor and legislators explaining why they enrolled in adult
education, what they planned on doing when they graduated and thanking
the policy maker for his/her support for adult education. 

The active participation of every local program director in the state

All program directors wrote their own letters, contacted legislators by
email and telephone and actively supported the role of their staff in
the advocacy process.

Celebrate the victories, learn from both victories and the defeats and
sign on for the long haul.   Art Ellison, NH Literacy Task Force

________________________________

From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of David
Rosen
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 1:59 PM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] New Hampshire state adult ed funding up 75%!

AAACE-NLA Colleagues,

According to this week's OVAE Thursday Notes:

New Hampshire adult education programs will receive a 75 percent
increase in funding under the new state FY 2010-2011biennial budget
signed by Gov. John Lynch June 26. New funding will expand the number of
adult high schools, create transition-to-college programs, and increase
resources for adults preparing for the GED test and for learning
disabled students. 

Congratulations to adult literacy advocates in New Hampshire. Perhaps
some of the NH advocates might be willing to share what your strategies
were, what was especially helpful, so other states might also benefit
from your success.

David J. Rosen

DJRosen at theworld.com

________________________________

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