[NLA] Alert: Is the NIFL Advisory Board Just the Beginning?

Wed May 15 16:02:14 EDT 2002

I would add that the letter that was sent by Laubach and LVA to the
White House, Secretaries, and various members of Congress past and
current was posted to our internal Listservs and I know from feedback
that I received that local programs responded.  Like Edith, I do not
have an easy way to tabulate how many -- combined we have almost 1,500
local member programs -- nor do I know what affect, if any, our efforts
had.  We received a polite, but not very interested, response to our
letter from the White House.

Further, the National Coalition for Literacy sent a similar letter as
had been suggested on this Listserv to which I have not yet heard a
response.

As many stated on this List when the issue was first raised, it was
unlikely that our letters and calls would change the Administration's
nominees.  However, those of us who responded are at least on record on
behalf of the field as having a point of view on this topic.  This may
turn out to be more valuable in the selection of replacement Board
Members in the future than it is during this round.

mailto:mtait at literacyvolunteers.org
Marsha L. Tait
President, Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc.
Chair, National Coalition for Literacy
P.O. Box 6506
Syracuse,  NY  13217
315-472-0001 X322
http://www.literacyvolunteers.org
http://www.natcoalitionliteracy.org/

-----Original Message-----
From: Edith Gower [mailto:office at naulc.org]
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 9:31 AM
To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: RE: [NLA] Alert: Is the NIFL Advisory Board Just the Beginning?

Hi David and others,

You are right that we do not have a good enough national structure in
place
to advocate as strongly as we need to, but there are at least strong
pockets
of organization.  Members of the National Alliance of Urban Literacy
Coalitions discussed the NIFL Board issue when they went to The Hill
last
March during their annual meeting and were provided with draft letters
for
their Congressional representatives who wanted to send something to the
HELP
Committee.  We have developed a good feedback mechanism for those visits
and
shared information about whom we visited and what their interest levels
were
with members of the National Coalition for Literacy at their recent
meeting.

I immediately pass on the advocacy alerts I get from the Pubic Policy
Committee of the National Coalition to the 40 plus NAULC members on our
listserv, who are asked to pass the information on to their local
stakeholders, including over 2,400 literacy service providers of all
makes
and models, and over a million learners.  The local coalitions often
have
local listservs of their own through which they convey this information.
 In
evaluation surveys we have taken we know that NAULC members appreciate
these
alerts and do pass them on, but we lack data that gives us detail about
how
many communications to Congress this actually represents.  Given that
advocacy is an important aspect of what urban literacy coalitions do for
their members, we know that they are working hard to keep this issue
front
and center on behalf of large constituencies.

Best,
Edith

Edith Gower, Executive Director
National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions
5433 Westheimer Road, Suite 1001
Houston, TX 77056
713-961-3922
FAX: 713-961-4775
office at naulc.org
www.naulc.org
www.buildliteracy.org
 -----Original Message-----
From: nla-admin at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:nla-admin at lists.literacytent.org]On Behalf Of David J. Rosen
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 6:40 AM
To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: [NLA] Alert: Is the NIFL Advisory Board Just the Beginning?

  George, and other NLA Colleagues,

  Senator Kennedy's staff -- and perhaps other Senators and
Congresspeople -- are aware of the concern of the field, but I don't
think
Congress heard from many people on this issue. I don't think that we
have a
strong national organizational structure to mobilize the field.  At the
time
when we most need national advocacy, we are least organized to respond.
I
hope that this will alert leaders in national adult literacy
organizations.
I would like to see these questions as an item for discussion on the
next
Board meeting of every organization which is a member of the National
Coalition for Literacy: "If Congress proposed a 20% cut to WIA adult
education funding, would our field be prepared to respond? Would we be
able
to stop this?  Or if there were an opportunity to increase funding,
could we
get hundreds or thousands of phone calls and faxes to Congress to make
this
happen? If you can't answer these questions satisfactorily, then what
needs
to be done?  And who is going to do it?"

  David J. Rosen
  NLA List Moderator

  George E. Demetrion wrote:

Christi and or others:Is Senator Kennedy's office aware about the
widespread
concern within thefield about the fact that none of these nominees have
substantialbackground in adult literacy? If so, can someone shed light
on
what thepublic response of his office is to the nominees? If not,one
wonders
whatthat says about the power of citizenry advocacy given the letters,
faxesand phone calls that his office has received on this.I realize the
issues are complex and the president generally gets a passon his/her
nominees, but not always when there is significant fieldconcern/protest,
which, admittedly hasn't risen to the level of what onemay refer to as
mobilization.George DemetrionA concerned citizenOn Tue, 14 May 2002
14:18:47 -0400 "Gullion, Christy"<Christy.Gullion at ed.gov> writes:
As of today, all ten National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board
nomineeshave been sent from the White House to the Senate for
confirmation.
TheSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is
nowresponsible for confirming the board nominees. To the best of my
knowledge,the HELP Committee has not yet scheduled a date for that
hearing
and/orvote.The nominees and proposed terms are as follows:Carmel Borders
of
Kentucky, 3-year termDouglas Carnine or Oregon, 3-year termBlanc
Enriquez of
Texas, 3-year termCarol Gambill of Tennessee, 3-year termMark Yudof of
Minnesota, 2-year termJean Osborn of Illinois, 2-year termPhyllis Hunter
of
Texas, 2-year termJuan Olivarez of Michigan, 1-year termWilliam Hiller
of
Ohio, 1-year termRobin Morris of Georgia, 1-year termI have also
confirmed
with Senator Kennedy's office that after one of the1-year terms
 expires, that position will be replaced by a field
nominee.Unfortunately, I
don't have any information at this time about how thisfield nomination
process will work. Christy GullionAssociate Director for Federal
PolicyNational Institute for Literacy1775 I Street, NW, Suite
730Washington,
DC 20006-2417ph. (202) 233-2033 fax (202)
233-2050------_=_NextPart_001_01C1FB73.C9EA2260Content-Type: text/html;
charset="iso-8859-1"Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable<!DOCTYPE
HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"><HTML><HEAD><META
HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html;
=charset=3Diso-8859-1"><META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange
Server version =5.5.2654.45"><TITLE>NIFL Advisory Board
Nominees</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>As of
today,
all ten Natio
nal =Institute for Literacy Advisory Board nominees have been sent from
the
=White House to the Senate for confirmation.&nbsp; The Senate Health,
=Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is now responsible for
=confirming the board nominees.&nbsp; To the best of my knowledge, the
=HELP
Committee has not yet scheduled a date for that hearing and/or
=vote.The nominees and
proposed
terms are as =follows:Carmel
Borders of Kentucky, 3-year =term Douglas Carnine or Oregon, 3-year =term Blanc Enriquez of Texas, 3-year
=term Carol Gambill of
Tennessee,
3-year =term</FONT&
gt; Mark Yudof of Minnesota, 2-year
=term Jean Osborn of Illinois,
2-year =term Phyllis Hunter of
Texas, 2-year =term Juan
Olivarez of
Michigan, 1-year =term William
Hiller of Ohio, 1-year =term Robin
Morris of Georgia, 1-year =termI
have also confirmed with Senator =Kennedy's office that after one of the
1-year terms expires, that =position will be replaced by a field
nominee.&nbsp; Unfortunately, I =don't have any information at this time
about how this field nomination =process will work. </F
ONT>Christy
=Gullion Associate Director for =Federal Policy National Institute for
=Literacy 1775
I
Street, NW, =Suite 730 Washington, DC&nbsp; =20006-2417 ph. (202) 233-2033 = fax (202)
=233-2050</BODY></HTML>------_=
_NextPart_001_01C1FB73.C9EA2260--_______________________________________
____
____NLA mailing list:
NLA at lists.literacytent.orghttp://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo
/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for
literacyhttp://literacytent.org
________________________________________________________________GET
INTERNET
ACCESS FROM JUNO!Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for
less!Join
Juno today! For your FREE software,
visit:http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.__________________________________
____
_________NLA mailing list:
NLA at lists.literacytent.orghttp://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo
/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for
literacyhttp://literacytent.org

_______________________________________________
NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org