DATE: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 
Time: 2:00–3:00PM (Eastern Time)

Discover COABE’s Student Ambassador Training – an award-winning advocacy training program that teaches learners how to advocate for and spread awareness of adult education, write their own adult education stories, discover ways to share their stories, and prepare for and practice meeting with public officials. This exciting program also gives learners leadership opportunities, builds a nationwide network of motivated and powerful adult learners, and improves test scores.

The training is offered in both synchronous facilitated and asynchronous modular formats, and the asynchronous version is FREE!  Learn how to implement this training in your own program and use it to help build a culture of empowerment.

Jessica Wabler spent the first decade of her adult education career working in DC as a program manager, teacher, volunteer coordinator, and more. While in DC, she was instrumental in founding the DC Adult & Family Literacy Coalition and still co-chairs its Best Practices Committee. Now, she coordinates the COABE Student Ambassador Program and works with multiple other organizations nationally to build empowering programs that help learners succeed.

DATE: Monday, August 2, 2021 
Time: 2:00–3:00PM (Eastern Time)

Community colleges and adult education programs are critical to building an inclusive and equitable recovery through English language, digital literacy, workplace readiness, and academic transition programs. The EnGen team will provide insight into how a wide variety of programs have transitioned to blended, virtual and career-focused language learning, now and into the future. Learn more about EnGen’s approach to supporting academic success and career pathways in healthcare, technology, retail, hospitality, manufacturing and many other growth sectors.

Katie Nielsonis the founder and chief education officer of EnGen, a public benefit company focused on leveraging technology to enable immigrants, refugees, and speakers of other languages with the English skills they need for meaningful careers. She has a Ph.D. in second language acquisition from the University of Maryland, and she’s been a classroom teacher, an assistant professor, and a research scientist. She’s spent over 20 years teaching languages, researching how to teach languages, and teaching people how to teach languages in various settings around the world. Katie lectures and writes about all things related to language learning and educational technology, and you can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and the Engen blog.

Tadd Wamester builds partnerships that create bridges to careers for new Americans, while developing diverse talent pipelines for growth sectors. Tadd has over 12 years of experience in immigrant and refugee workforce development and education programs after nearly a decade at Upwardly Global where he used digital learning technologies for scaled impact, and also collaborated with multiple states to outline immigrant relicensing pathways and eliminate other systemic barriers to immigrant workforce integration. Tadd earned an M.A. in business education from NYU and a B.A. in economics from Northwestern University.

This webinar is generously sponsored by Voxy EnGen.

DATE: Tuesday, August 13, 2021 
Time: 2:00–3:00PM (Eastern Time)

Impactful, sustainable advocacy is built on strong relationships, unified messaging, and compelling stories. Join IACEA, the voice of Illinois Adult Education’s Legislative Awareness Day Committee, to learn about their experience with advocacy that culminated in two high energy Virtual Rallies (one last fall and one this spring) that consistently drew well over 100 student and staff participants from across the state. In this session, presenters will share the steps taken that resulted in these successful virtual rallies including the development of the planning committee, the promotion of the event, the integration of legislator conversations, the creation of student videos, and the inclusion of state-level leadership as presenters. During this interactive session, attendees will be invited and supported to create an easy to implement action plan of their own.

Jeff Campbell is Director of Instruction and Curriculum at Lewis and Clark Community College.  He has served on the IACEA Board since 2014 in a variety of capacities including Chair of the annual Legislative Awareness Day Rally and Senior Division Chair for Adult Basic and Secondary Education.  In addition to his experience in teaching Adult Education classes, Jeff has taught at the college level and in the corporate setting.  He also volunteers for the United Way of Greater St. Louis as a member of the allocations panel.

Dr. Val Harris is Associate Dean for Adult Education at Lewis and Clark Community College and has been in leadership there for over twenty-five years. She is passionate about her work to foster a culture that ensures that students and staff flourish. Under Val’s leadership the Division has grown to include numerous programs and services that promote student success. In addition to High School Equivalency/GED preparation and English as a Second Language courses, there are support services, integrated instruction and bridge coursework to help students transition to college or work. Project READ which provides volunteer tutors to provide individualized tutoring, family education programming that encourage an intergenerational approach to educational achievement, and to provide comprehensive education and support for youth of promise, YouthBuild Building Futures programming. Val has served IACEA in various capacities over the years and is currently Chair of the Legislative Committee.

Michael Matos is currently the Technology Project Manager for Chicago Citywide Literacy Coalition managing the Illinois Digital Literacy Lab Project, He is currently on the IACEA Board (Region 1 Senior Director. Legislative Committee) and COABE Board (Region 3 Representative) and COABE Board Technology Chair. Past positions include: Senior Director of Adult Education, Employment and Training Programs managing the adult education and ESL programs and Computer Technology Center Director and Instructor. His work includes teaching ESL/ELL, ABE, ASE and digital literacy for over 20 years. He has also been presenting at conferences nationally since 2007 and many of those presentations have been about educational technology, math, financial literacy and social studies.

Kerry Urquizo is currently the Associate Dean of Adult Education at Heartland Community College.  She has worked in Adult Education for over 20 years. She currently is the Immediate Past President of IACEA.  Her work includes years of teaching ESL in the community teaching classes such as functional English, Academic English, Pronunciation, Business English, and Parenting classes.  She has been presenting at local, state and national conferences since 2004 on topics relevant to Adult Educators.

Christopher McElroy has worked for the past nine years in the South Suburban Community College Adult Education Department in South Holland, IL. Prior to that, he was the transitions coach and database administrator of the program. In his role as transition coach is when he began analyzing how they market and advertise their programs, as well as assisting students in career navigation, job exploration, and moving onto post-secondary education. He currently serves as the immediate past president of the Illinois Adult and Continuing Education Association (IACEA), which serves as the voice of adult education in Illinois.

Erin Vobornik is an ESL instructor at Elgin Community College and COABE’s 2021 State Advocate for Adult Education Fellow for Illinois. She has worked in adult education for 10 years teaching ESL, adult basic education, and high school equivalency classes. She has an M.A. in linguistics and approaches language teaching from a data-driven, scientific view. She also uses research and data in teaching and conducting advocacy efforts for adult education and literacy programs.