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PAACE member, adult and continuing education staff, student, and partner support is needed to ensure quality education programs continue and grow. Click on the links below to learn more about the issues and how you can be involved.
Appropriations - Your action is needed now!
Advocacy Resources
- Find your elected officials
- Pennsylvania Appropriations and Leadership Committees
- PAACE Legislative Documents
- Successful advocacy efforts
- National Coalition for Literacy Online Advocacy Toolkit
Start planning your advocacy campaign on the funding issue for 2010-11. PAACE has requested the Governor to recommend to the legislature the funding level of $21.5 million, the same amount he requested for 09-10. The following letter 
was sent to the Governor by President Diane Inverso. A copy is also available below.
Please follow up with a letter of your own to the
Governor with the same request, but inserting information about your program and the wait list you have.
Each program will be receiving postcards to send to their state legislators from students put on a wait list. These postcards will tell our story about the impact of the budget cuts on this year’s programming.
In addition to this, each organization is urged to invite their legislators to visit their program or speak at a recognition or graduation event.
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November 16, 2009 Dear Governor Rendell: As members of the Pennsylvania Association for Adult and Continuing Education (PAACE), we represent the interests of over 1000 professional and volunteer adult educators and tens of thousands of students from every county throughout
Our students are diverse as well and represent a broad range of
Our work is about economic development, strengthening of families, and expanding participation in the give and take of American democracy and the responsibilities incurred by that participation. And like every important work, resources are needed. Please help us to maintain our programs so that adult students can continue to have access to quality adult education programs. In your budget last year, you included $21.5 million for funding for adult basic and literacy education, including family literacy. Unfortunately, the legislative compromise only provided $17.687 million in funding. We urge you to once again advocate for at least the $21.5 million. The substantial decrease for
The budget you will be sending to the State Legislature is critical to the future of adult literacy programs. Please consider the need for an increase to enable
Sincerely, Diane C. Inverso |
A continued push needs to be made on federal appropriations to increase the funding level for the Workforce Investment Act Title II and to keep level funding for Even Start. The House of Representatives has passed its appropriations bill for 2010; the Senate has not yet passed the appropriations bill.
Thanks to your efforts, PAACE has been successful in advocating for support of adult and continuing education issues. Do you have an advocacy success story? Email PAACE Legislative Chair JoAnn Weinberger at weinberger@centerforliteracy.org
- Representatives Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah signed on to the federal Dear Colleague letter urging an FY10 appropriation of $750 million.
- PAACE had a successful electronic petition in opposition to the Pennsylvania Economy League report regarding ABLE programs being transferred from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor and Industry.
- Agencies and staff met with US. Senators to discuss the importance of adult education programs during ProLiteracy's Capitol Hill Days.
- Congress has agreed to place the Workforce Investment Act, of which Title II is Adult and Family Literacy Education Act, on the agenda in 2010. Your voices have been heard!
PAACE Legislative Committee Documents
PAACE Fact Sheet (facts at your fingertips about PAACE and adult education, for use in your advocacy efforts - check back for an updated document in 2010 )
Stand Up and Be Counted (Legislative Committee's "how to" advocacy manual, updated 2004)
Tips on How to Advocate Effectively (updated document will be posted in early 2010)
Find your Elected Officials
Below are links to help you identify your elected officials:
State (PA) Elected Officials
Click on the link above to locate your state Representatives and Senators. Once the page opens, enter your zip code or county in the upper right-hand corner of the page to locate your state Representatives and Senators.
Federal (US) Elected officials
Click on the link above to locate your United States federal elected officials. This page has links for contacting the President, US Senators ,and US Representatives.
Pennsylvania Appropriations and Leadership Committee Lists
PAACE Western Region Representative Alex Down has compiled a list of Pennsylvania Appropriation Committee members and Leadership Committee members. Elected officials on this list are often critical to our advocacy efforts. Check this list to see if your local elected official is on this list. If he or she is not, it is still important for you to educate him or her on the importance of adult and continuing education services. If you notice any errors, please email: adow@gplc.org.
Pennsylvania Appropriations and Leadership Committee Lists
Portable Document Format (PDF)To view and print PDF documents, you will need the FREE Adobe Reader.
National Coalition for Literacy Launches Online Advocacy Toolkit
The National Coalition for Literacy (NCL) has launched its new online Advocacy Clearinghouse and Toolkit (www.ncladvocacy.org). Developed with an aim to change the conversation about adult education in the U.S., the Toolkit provides adult education and literacy advocates with the tools and knowledge to raise awareness and speak for the needs of 30+ million Americans with limited literacy and the 11+ million who cannot communicate in English.
Containing dozens of resources, facts and reports provided by member organizations of the NCL, the Advocacy Clearinghouse and Toolkit is a “one-stop shop” for all advocates interested in improving adult education. This project has been generously supported by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, which invests millions of dollars each year in literacy programs that help individuals reach their full potential.
The NCL is a national adult education leadership organization comprised of member organizations and adult education professionals, committed to promoting adult education and literacy, family literacy and English language development in the US. For more information about the Toolkit, contact Jennifer Maloney, NCL Director, at: jennifer.maloney@ncldc.net or Jackie Taylor, website developer at Jackie@jataylor.net.
This page was last updated on November 20, 2009