[NLA] URGENT Action: Senate NIFL Letter

Thu Nov 14 06:22:53 EST 2002

Urgent Action: Help Preserve NIFL's Adult Ed Focus!

SUMMARY ... We must ensure that the permanent director of the National
Institute for Literacy (NIFL) knows the adult literacy field well. Our
friends in the Senate are helping us by making such a recommendation to the
Secretaries of Labor, HHS, and Education, who will decide on the director.
We need your help in getting as many Senators as possible to cosign this
recommendation letter. We must do this NOW! The Senate may adjourn at the
end of next week.

ACTION NEEDED

1. Fax a letter to your each of your two Senators asking them to cosign the
Breaux-Hatch NIFL letter.
2. Mail copies of your two letters to the Secretaries of Labor, HHS, and
Education
3. Call both of your Senators early next week after you send your fax. Ask
if they have co-signed the recommendation letter.
4. Urge others in your program to do steps 1-3.

TIMING

Since the Senate may adjourn at the end of next week and not come back until
January, we must gather as many co-signers as possible NOW for this Senate
letter. Your Senator must have agreed to sign the letter by Nov. 22nd. That
means you must fax your letters now and follow up by phone within the next
few days.

Sorry for so little notice on this alert. I just learned yesterday that this
was a GO! We've been trying to make this happen since before Labor Day. I
had almost given up hope, when Senator Hatch came through!

In advance, thanks for your quick action on this issue! The future direction
of the NIFL - and its support for our field or lack thereof - hangs in the
balance.

BACKGROUND

As you are probably aware, the Administration has recommended to the Senate
a new Advisory Board to the NIFL. The recommended appointees have impressive
educational credentials but very limited experience with adult education,
giving rise to a concern that the NIFL may turn away from its statutory role
to serve as a national resource for adult education and literacy programs.

NIFL Advisory Board nominees are being approved as quickly as their
paperwork can be processed. The new board could meet before Christmas and
recommend someone who also has very little knowledge of our field. The
installation of this new permanent NIFL director could be done in a matter
of weeks if the Secretaries of Labor, HHS and Education quickly approve the
Board's recommendation.

Admittedly, this is a worst case scenario based on conjecture. However, we
have just over one week to urge the Senate to weigh in on this critical
issue and prevent something like this from happening.

SAMPLE LETTER

Please use this letter as a guide in writing your own letters. Ideally, your
letter should be a little different than this one, so it doesn't look like
you simply signed a form letter.

Here's the sample letter ...

November 15, 2002

The Honorable [full name of your Senator]
United States Senate
Washington, DC  20510

Dear Senator [last name] :

Please help ensure that the unique mandate of the National Institute for
Literacy is preserved as a new director is selected.

As you may know the President has nominated an entirely new slate of
Advisory Board members. These new board members have impressive
qualifications in early childhood education and post-secondary education.
However, as a group their expertise in the area of adult education and
literacy is very limited.

One of the first duties of the new Advisory Board will be to forward
recommendations for a new director to the Secretaries of Education, Labor
and HHS. As members of the Interagency Group responsible for the
administration of the Institute, the Secretaries will be asked to approve
the selection of the agency's director.

I feel it is critical that the new permanent director of the Institute have
adult education and literacy expertise in order to direct the only agency
charged with serving as national resource for adult education and literacy
programs like mine.

Therefore I urge you to co-sign a "Dear Colleague letter" to Secretaries
Paige, Thompson, and Chao. The letter is being circulated by the office of
Senators John Breaux (Mallory Moore, LA) and Orrin Hatch (Becky Shipp, LA).

Thank you for helping us.

Sincerely,

[Your name]
[The address from which you are registered to vote]

CC:	The Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor
	The Honorable Roderick Paige, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
	The Honorable Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services

FAX NUMBERS

To obtain the fax number for your two Senators, please check the following
web site: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

If a fax number is not listed, you will need to call their office and
indicate that you are a constituent who wants to fax a short letter.

SEND COPIES OF YOUR LETTER

Please send a copy of your two letters to each of the following people. By
receiving a copy of your letter, these officials will see just how many
people care about this issue.

The Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor
Attn: Emily Stover DeRocco, Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training
Administration
200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room S-2307
Washington, D.C. 20210

The Honorable Roderick Paige, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
Attn: Beth Ann Bryan, Senior Advisor to the Secretary
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Room 7W205
Washington, D.C. 20202

The Honorable Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services
Attn: Wade F. Horn, Assistant Secretary For Children & Families
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W., Suite 600
Washington, DC 20447

TEXT OF THE HOUSE LETTER

When you speak to the education LA's for each of your two Senators, you can
offer to send them the text of the Breaux-Hatch NIFL letter if they haven't
seen it yet. Here it is:

Dear Secretary Paige, Secretary Thompson, and Secretary Chao:

As mandated in Title II of the Workforce Investment Act, the National
Institute for Literacy serves as national resource for adult education and
literacy programs.  Recently, the Institute has taken on additional
responsibilities to advance reading research and dissemination at all levels
from early childhood to adult.

Soon a new Advisory Board will be installed and they will begin the process
of recommending a new director. As members of the Interagency Group
responsible for the administration of the Institute, you will be asked to
approve the selection of the agency's new permanent director.

We trust that you will consider the following factors as the new director of
the Institute is selected.
? The National Institute for Literacy is a unique national resource
established in law to support the system of adult literacy and language
learning.
? The National Institute for Literacy is a primary information source to
Congress about literacy and language need, current services, and impact.
? The National Institute for Literacy plays a crucial role in national
efforts to promote research, to identify and disseminate effective practices
and to coordinate policy.
? The National Institute for Literacy has a unique mandate to foster, and
encourage collaboration among, literacy-related activities that contribute
to the missions of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education and its offices of pre-K-12, post-secondary, adult, and vocational
education.

Consequently, it would be advantageous for the National Institute for
Literacy's Executive Director to be:
* Conversant in adult education issues, research, and the diverse array of
providers that comprise the delivery system
* Passionate about building an adult learning system that integrates
services
* Knowledgeable regarding the variety of models and collaborative
arrangements, and articulate in describing how adult literacy/language
education enhances pre-K-12, post-secondary, and vocational education; job
training; health care; welfare reform; economic development; and post-prison
success

We appreciate your interest in our concerns.

Sincerely,

#   #   #

Jon Randall
Public Policy Committee Chair
National Coalition for Literacy
www.natcoalitionliteracy.org

NCL policy efforts are supported in part by funding from ProLiteracy
Worldwide

FedStrategics, LLC
strategic advocacy & public affairs consulting
to charitable organizations
www.FedStrategics.com

8413 Park Crest Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: (301) 588-5304   Fax: (301) 588-5353
jrandall at FedStrategics.com

_______________________________________________
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