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

Wed May 15 18:32:00 EDT 2002

David Rosen, Marsha et all:
"And the work goes on" .... "and the work goes on" .... in the words of one
used-to-be musician who was elected to office and quit singing "and the beat
goes on".

*I* agree, Marsha.  I believed like YOU did that it "was unlikely that our
letters and calls would change the Administration's nominees."  We may not
see the fruits of that labor, but just as you pointed out, those of us who
responded are at least on record on behalf of the field as having a point of
view on this topic. We DO have to continue to be diligent in our contacts to
the hierarchy so that the people making these appts KNOW that we, as a
"loosely organized adult ed and literacy organization" (tongue in cheek
joke), aren't going to let these appts slide by without burning their
britches in the year to come.  I know for sure that this surely changed the
way *I* look at the NIFL as an authority and power in the field.  Obviously
not truth.

David, with Marsha Tait and Peter Waite's help (LVA/LLA) I would hope that
we *do* have a unified front of literacy providers in these two nat'l
organizations.  People who have "something to say" about the way the
literacy programs are being misused and abused and under-funded and
disrespected by *way* too many decision-makers out there -- those nameless
faces who disregard input and make appts to boards contrary to the wishes of
many expressed in what might have appeared to be "loosely organized".  Now
if we can just get the literacy practitioners and volunteers to vocalize
their feelings.  According to Marsha, they responded to the call for action
from their nat'l organization  -- even though they all seem to stay Tight
Lipped here on the NLA.

David, it doesn't have to be "the beginning" -- and *definitely doesn't have
to turn into the "beginning of the end" in adult ed and literacy.  WE are
Survivors!  Those of us who rubbed two pennies together and made a dime out
of it, will find other dimes in other places to continue to offer the
treasure of Learning To Read.  That chest (supposedly in the tales of the
pirates, to be filled with Gold!) doesn't necessarily have to be "filled"
with anything more than the gift of words and reading skills for the
literacy student.  They are not looking to get rich.  What they *are*
looking for is someone who cares about their hopes and dreams!

We literacy providers do want the right to speak on behalf of adult literacy
level students.  Don't we??  We do deserve to be heard.  Here's an example
of how an adult ed/literacy "bunch" takes action in a meaningful way:
        When I was notified by our AELS  Director in the S.D. Dept of Labor
through an email broadcast to all S.D. adult ed/literacy contacts about the
HR4092 (or whatever number it was), I called "my Senator" in Washington DC a
couple days later.  The Senator's staff said, "Oh *yes*, Nancy, we have
heard.  We've gotten a LOT of calls, emails and faxes from a LOT of people
in the state stating their feelings against this Bill and, believe me,
Senator will speak on your behalf against passage of that Bill."
        The key here is:  **One** Senator can*not* move the world!  Where
are the Massachusetts folks?  Did Senator Kennedy also get "a lot of calls,
emails and faxes from a LOT of people"?  How about YOUR local Senator?  Did
s/he?  THERE'S where the unified front either succeeds or fails.

Nancy Hansen
a little nobody in a little program
which cares a whole lot about adult learners
sfliteracy at mcleodusa.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "MTAIT" <MTAIT at Laubach.org>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 3:02 PM
Subject: RE: [NLA] Alert: Is the NIFL Advisory Board Just the Beginning?

> 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><P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">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.</FONT></P><P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">The nominees and
> proposed
> terms are as =follows:</FONT></P><P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Carmel
> Borders of Kentucky, 3-year =term</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=3D2
> FACE=3D"Arial">Douglas Carnine or Oregon, 3-year =term</FONT><BR><FONT
> SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Blanc Enriquez of Texas, 3-year
> =term</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Carol Gambill of
> Tennessee,
> 3-year =term</FONT&
> gt;<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Mark Yudof of Minnesota, 2-year
> =term</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Jean Osborn of Illinois,
> 2-year =term</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Phyllis Hunter of
> Texas, 2-year =term</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Juan
> Olivarez of
> Michigan, 1-year =term</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">William
> Hiller of Ohio, 1-year =term</FONT><BR><FONT SIZE=3D2
> FACE=3D"Arial">Robin
> Morris of Georgia, 1-year =term</FONT></P><P><FONT SIZE=3D2
> FACE=3D"Arial">I
> 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></P><P><B><I><FONT FACE=3D"Arial Unicode MS">Christy
> =Gullion</FONT></I></B><I></I><BR><I><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial
> Unicode
> MS">Associate Director for =Federal Policy</FONT></I><BR><I><FONT
> SIZE=3D2
> FACE=3D"Arial Unicode MS">National Institute for
> =Literacy</FONT></I><BR><I><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial Unicode MS">1775
> I
> Street, NW, =Suite 730</FONT></I><BR><I><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial
> Unicode
> MS">Washington, DC&nbsp; =20006-2417</FONT></I><BR><I><FONT SIZE=3D2
> FACE=3D"Arial Unicode MS">ph. (202) 233-2033 =</FONT></I><BR><I><FONT
> SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial Unicode MS">fax (202)
> =233-2050</FONT></I></P></BODY></HTML>------_=
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