[MCAEnews] VERA 2008

[The MCAE Advocate]

 Hi Adult Basic Education Practitioner, 

	The VERA 2008 Campaign is now underway in Massachusetts. VERA is the
Voter Education Registration Action campaign. If you have participated
in the campaign before, I hope that you are looking forward to joining
us again. If you are new to VERA, we hope that you join the campaign
and encourage civic participation activities in your ABE program.  

	We know that people with less education are the least likely to
vote, and the younger they are, the higher the odds. We in adult basic
education can do our part to turn those statistics around. We can
teach students that  
    *Voting      is a civil right that people have fought and died
for
    *Elected      officials’ decisions affect their daily lives and
well-being
    *While      there are no guarantees that voting will result in
the outcome you desire,      abstaining from voting guarantees that
you have no effect on who is      elected to represent you
    *If no      one voted, we would have a dictatorship, and
political power would be even      more concentrated in a few hands
than it already is. Many of our immigrant      students already
understand this through first hand experience
	The VERA 2008 campaign is swinging into full action. The 2008 Voter
education edition of The Change Agent, "Democracy in Action,"  will be
distributed in this month, March, 2008. It contains many useful
lessons, tips, and information to facilitate the voter education
initiative in your program. 

	Additional materials are available online at http://www.nelrc.org
[1]. Over the next months until election day in November, additional
resources will be added to this website, including materials specific
to Massachusetts. 

	These lessons are appropriate for voters and non-voters, the
registered and the unregistered, citizens and non-citizens, documented
immigrants and undocumented immigrants. All our students can benefit
by learning more about the great American tradition of civic
involvement. 

	I encourage you to talk to your fellow practitioners, and introduce
the topic of civic engagement at a staff meeting, a state meeting or
conference. You can also encourage staff or students to participate in
a political event.  

	Election 2008 is in the news all the time. It is a teachable moment.
Integrating the election and the political process into your
instruction can help your students learn transferable advocacy skills
and communication skills such as active listening, seeing issues from
multiple perspectives, paraphrasing, and disagreeing respectfully.
Developing critical thinking skills benefits students in a variety of
ways, from analyzing readings on the GED to making important decisions
as workers, parents, and citizens. And voting is an NRS outcome. 

	I look forward to having you join the VERA 2008 Campaign. Good luck
with your efforts and please contact me if you have any questions. 

	 Kenny Tamarkin
 State Coordinator, VERA 2008 Campaign
 KTamarkin at mcae.net [2]
 617-778-7971 


Links:
------
[1] http://www.nelrc.org/
[2] mailto:KTamarkin at mcae.net
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