[NLA] The New Readers of Iowa

[Archie Willard]

Saturday, September 22, the New Readers of Iowa held their 12th
consecutive New Readers of Iowa State Conference. Four adult learners
and one practitioner from Sioux Falls, South Dakota were guests. This
conference was different from any other we have had in the past. First
we paid tribute to the people of New York City and Washington DC and to
our nation. Then we talked about the history of the adult literacy
movement in the United States and how important the adult learners’
national organization VALUE is to all adult learners and this country.

There was an excitement at this conference that I had never seen before.
There was a different look in the eyes of the adult learners because
they were going to do something new.  They were going to look at sample
ballots from the last presidential election and have an opportunity for
their voices to be heard. This is something that does not happen very
often. Iowa Secretary of State Chester Culver was at this conference as
a guest.  No one with this kind of position had ever come to the Iowa
New Readers Conference before. Others have been invited in the past, but
they could never come for some reason. Secretary Culver had just came
from another engagement and made everyone feel comfortable with his
presence. He just blended in with the adult learners and then spoke to
us about how the voting process works in Iowa.  At the end there were a
lot of good questions.

After the noon lunch the adult learners broke up into 8 groups and
looked at sample ballots furnished by Secretary Culver’s office. We had
ballots from all 99 counties in Iowa. We discussed the things we liked
and the things we didn't like about each ballot. Then all groups came
together again and reported their findings.  Everything was written
down. This statement will be compiled and then given to Secretary of
State Culver. Secretary Culver told us that he would share this
information with the rest of the Secretaries of State at their next
national meeting.  Everyone came away with a good feeling and they all
said they had never worked this hard at any other New Readers of Iowa
Conference before.

Archie Willard
Adult Learner of Iowa


--
Archie Willard
millard at goldfieldaccess.net
FAX - 515-448-3213
URL - http://www.readiowa.org/archiew.html