[NLA] Re: NIFL Dear Colleague Letter, House & Senate

[Daphne Greenberg]

I agree. I found this experience to be a very empowering one. I did not realize how simple it is to be counted. I was impressed how seriously my representative took my voice and am still a bit puzzled by it. I was always under the impression that one needed lots of signatures to make a point. Obviously this is not always true.
Thank you David for giving us an opportunity to have a Civics education and have an impact all at the same time.
Daphne

>>> carl.guerriere at po.state.ct.us 10/09/02 05:30PM >>>
Regardless of the final decision regarding NIFL director, I agree that we
should feel proud of our efforts to affect adult literacy policy on a
national level.  Of particular note is how it happened.

We all receive email messages from friends who want us to sign on to a
letter for some cause.  My experience has been, more often than not, that I
do not discover the final result of my contribution to the effort.
The NLA listserv provided a national network to communicate information and
provide daily updates, as well as the final vote tally.  And eventually we
will find out who has been chosen as director.
I believe the listserv provided a unique and valuable contribution to
national policy efforts that should be recognized as well as utilzied in the
future as we try to build national advocacy efforts.
Carl Guerriere
Executive Director/Literacy Advocate
Greater Hartford Literacy Council
99 Pratt Street
Hartford, CT  06103
(860) 522-7323 (522-READ) NEW NUMBER!
Fax: (860) 722-2486



-----Original Message-----
From: nla-admin at lists.literacytent.org 
[mailto:nla-admin at lists.literacytent.org]On Behalf Of Jon Randall
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 12:24 PM
To: NLA Listserv (E-mail)
Subject: [NLA] Re: NIFL Dear Colleague Letter, House & Senate


Last evening, George Demetrion (LVA-Greater Hartford) asked several
questions regarding the NIFL letter effort, the Director, and the Advisory
Board. I'll do my best to respond briefly.

Re: Failed letter effort in Senate ... It would have had more impact if we'd
been able to secure a lead Republican cosponsor to join Sen. John Breaux
(D-LA), but we should be proud of our effort in the House. A letter from 51
Congresspersons has impact. The jury is still out on whether it will
influence their selection of the Director. Even if we'd had a Senate letter,
we wouldn't know for sure. Through this effort, we made some new friends on
Capitol Hill and created some visibility for adult literacy in the offices
of the Secretaries of Education, Labor, and HHS. These outputs may serve the
field in the coming months.

Re: Possible Director candidates ... All we have is rumor at this point. It
wouldn't be fair to vet rumored possible candidates on this listserv. I
assert we should focus on the characteristics of a director we'd like to
see - be proactive and positive rather than reactive and negative. Let's try
to be part of the solution and not allow ourselves to be painted by
policy-makers as unproductive.

Re: Director appointment ... It is my understanding that the Secretaries
COULD appoint a new director at any time. However, they may be inclined to
wait a little while longer in order for the new Advisory Board to review
possible candidates and advise - thus creating some new board member buy-in.

Re: Senate confirmation of the new Board ... It is my understanding that the
hold up in confirming nominees is the result of the White House failing to
forward FBI background check data to the Senate. This means that the Senate
must gather its own background data - requiring the nominees to
unnecessarily complete more paperwork and Senate staff to conduct its own
investigations. This would not be necessary if the White House had asked the
nominees for permission to release the FBI background data to the Senate.

(Aside ... Some partisan individuals have mused that there are politics at
work here. In not forwarding the data , could the Administration be trying
to make the Democrat-controlled Senate look slow to act and make the
nominees resent additional digging by Senator Kennedy's committee?)


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 



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