Continue your ongoing Advocacy April efforts, as we make our voice heard for adult education. You can participate these ways:
Advocacy April Prep Webinar
Advocacy April is a great time to raise visibility in your local program, community, and state! Watch the replay of this short and informative session with tools and skills you can put to use right away!
Watch Replay Ana Bedoya Hernandez
Pima Community College / Arizona Association for Lifelong Learning
Dr. Amy Loyd, US Dept of Education Secretary attended Pima Community College signing day event. Ana spoke with Dr. Loyd about her role as an Adult Education advocate and her English language journey. Amy Loyd also met and listened to the stories of three IBEST program students and graduates.
Ana sent emails to Arizona Adult Education program directors to introduce herself as the 2023 Advocacy Fellow and was invited to speak at an HSE Graduation and ELL Ceremony on June 29th, and she requested virtual meetings with state legislators.
Christine Valdez
Middletown Adult Education
Christine Valdez met with corporate partner, FedEx to join their Purple Pathways program. If a new employee does not have a high school degree or speak English, FedEx will provide their program as a resource. As a result of the meeting she was invited to their first Employee Expo, and plans to approach Amazon next as they also have a large facility in the area.
Joyce Warrington
Organization of Adult Alumni & Students in Service
Joyce has invited state officials to her programs graduation ceremony. Senator Eric Buckson and Representative Evelyn Harris have both agreed to attend the graduation. Joyce is finalizing meeting dates with Senator Chris Coons and Senator Tom Carper to share about the need for funding and support for adult education.
Last month Joyce met with members of the Department of Education, along with Maureen Whalen (State Director), Joanne Chandler (State Association Leader), Betsy Jones (Director of Polytech Adult Ed).
Debra Tavaras
Atlanta Public Schools
At Debra’s invitation, Senator Jason Esteves has agreed to be the commencement speaker at her school’s graduation. Congresswoman Nikema Williams and Mayor Andre Dickens will be sending a greeting.
Daniela Mancusi-Shreve
Center of Workforce Innovations
IAACE, the state association in Indiana won an award for their state leadership in increasing funding by $16.9 million for year one and $20.9 million for the following year. Daniela participated in the event, booking legislative meetings and also supported Senator Todd Young’s work on the “Strengthening Research in Adult Education Act”.
Marisol Adelmann
Washtenaw Community College
Marisol and a team from their local adult education program traveled to the Michigan state capitol to participate in state association, MACAE’s Adult Education and Advocacy Day. The focus of this day was to meet with legislators about the upcoming state budget which includes Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Executive recommendations for an additional $15 million for adult education as well as a one-time innovative grant investment of $15 million in the State School Aid Act Section 107 for Adult Education. They also asked for their support for the creation of an Adult Literacy Opportunity Fund as proposed by MACAE to the legislature.
Marisol also held meetings with Senator Jeff Irwin and State Representative Carrie Rheingans. Marisol was asked to give a speech to her colleagues and legislators who were in attendance. Marisol spoke about her personal journey from GED student to college graduation, to where she is at today.
Dana Downs-Kuritz
Washtenaw Community College
Marisol and a team from their local adult education program traveled to the Michigan state capitol to participate in state association, MACAE’s Adult Education and Advocacy Day. The focus of this day was to meet with legislators about the upcoming state budget which includes Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Executive recommendations for an additional $15 million for adult education as well as a one-time innovative grant investment of $15 million in the State School Aid Act Section 107 for Adult Education. They also asked for their support for the creation of an Adult Literacy Opportunity Fund as proposed by MACAE to the legislature.
Tammy Gluck
Exeter Adult Education
New Hampshire is facing funding cuts, so multiple organizations in New Hampshire worked together to implement a student letter writing campaign in April as well as a statewide Ignite 3 click campaign. As a result of the student letter writing campaign Senator Debra Altschiller has visited the Exeter Adult Education program to meet the students who wrote letters.
Karen Dispo-De Boos
Literacy Volunteers of Clinton, Essex, and Franklin Counties
Karen recently attended the NYACCE annual conference. At the conference her program manager was awarded 1 of 7 Adult Educator of the Year Awards for NYS. Since returning Karen has written a press release about the award and the importance of Adult Education. Karen sent the press release along with the copy of the conference program to local, state, and federal legislators to express the importance of supporting adult education on a state and federal level.
Cori Lupton
Cuyahoga Community College – Ohio Options
At Cori’s request, Mayor Timothy DeGeeter of Parma and Cuyahoga County Executive Director Chris Ronayne have accepted the invitation to attend her adult education program’s graduation ceremony.
Genevieve Halkett
Chemeketa Community College
Genevieve runs a program for Internationally Trained Professionals in the ESOL program at Chemeketa Community College. She provided testimony for hearings on SB 849, which aims to make the licensing process easier for healthcare professionals.
Genevieve has invited state and local officials to attend the first ESOL class graduation June 13 at the Welcome Center in Portland, which houses over 300 asylees. Chemeketa is partnering with Portland Refugee Support Group (PRSG) and the Afghan Support Network (ASN) to offer literacy and ESOL classes to over 50 students at the center.
Donna Hill
Newberry Adult Education and Continuing Education
Donna Hill teaches adult education in two different school districts. She met with the superintendent in one county and formed a marketing and mutual legislation agreement with him. Donna has sent invites to state legislators to attend their graduation celebration.
Synnamon Taylor
HopeWorks
Synnamon sent invitations to State Officials for their May 6th Graduation at HopeWorks.
Thomas Lear
Laramie County Community College
Thomas has extended an invitation to his program’s graduation ceremony to local and state legislators and Representative Dan Zwonitzer has accepted the invitation to attend.
State Advocate Fellows will continue working to raise visibility and funding for adult education. Click HERE to to view the progress over the last year that has been recorded on the National COABE Padlet.
Let’s come together to raise our voice! COABE has created eye popping graphics that you can send out via social media.
Download an image to share on social media
From your desktop/laptop, right-click on the image you want and select Save-As to save it to your computer.
From your mobile device, press and hold the image to save it to your device.
