[GLC] Rally to Support Adult Literacy

[Ira Yankwitt]

Dear Colleagues:

Below is an email from the Coalition for Adult Literacy inviting you to
participate in a rally next Thursday, June 23rd, at the offices of the US
Department of Education in lower Manhattan.  The Coalition for Adult
Literacy is the same group of practitioners that organized the extremely
successful rally in Union Square on April 21st.  As they rightly point out
in their email, we still have a long way to go before adult literacy
funding is fully restored by Congress, and it is critical that we continue
to do all that we can to highlight the effectiveness and impact of our
programs.

**************************************************
Dear supporters of adult literacy programs, 

A House appropriations subcommittee has voted to restore adult literacy
funding through the Workforce Investment Act. This is a wonderful
development for us, but the House and Senate are a long way from finishing
their budget negotiations.  We need to continue to show how important this
work is to immigrant and native-born families, so that the full Congress
will agree to restore WIA funding. 

In contrast, President Bush, his administration, and his Congressional
allies continue to support huge cuts in federal funding for adult literacy
programs. Instead of recognizing the important work done by adult literacy
programs, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has said through her
office that they do not have reliable data showing that these programs are
effective.

On June 23rd, hundreds of adult students, teachers, and supporters will
visit the offices of the U.S. Department of Education (32 Old Slip in lower
Manhattan) at 11 a.m. to tell Spellings what we know...that these programs
do work.  We will be providing data to support this claim.  For more
information, including directions, see the attached flier.  If you are an
adult literacy teacher, consider having your students write letters to
Margaret Spellings to describe how the programs work for them.  A lesson
plan for doing this is attached.  If you bring these letters to the
protest, they can be added to a stack of hundreds of student letters that
will be presented to Spellings' representatives as further evidence of our
programs' effectiveness.  If you can, photocopy the letters and bring those
as well, as we will be sending the copies to Congressman Serrano for his
use on our behalf. 

Thank you. 

Coalition for Adult Literacy
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Ira Yankwitt, Director
Professional Development / 
NYC Regional Adult Education Network 
Literacy Assistance Center
32 Broadway, 10th Floor
NY, NY 10004
(212) 803-3356
iray at lacnyc.org