[NIFL-POVRACELIT:1025] Re: January is Poverty Awareness Month

From: Ana Duckworth (anaworth@usp.br)
Date: Wed Jan 29 2003 - 19:02:48 EST


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From: Ana Duckworth <anaworth@usp.br>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:1025] Re: January is Poverty Awareness Month  
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Hello all list members,
 

 
I have just joined the list and would like to present myself. I am a 
librarian in Sao Paulo (Brazil) working with Special Projects for Public 
Libraries and we would like to develop a literacy program for all 68 
libraries (many one them in very poor areas of the city) mainly for young 
adults and adults.
 

 
I have been looking for some ideas, but I would also like to have 
suggestions in order to avoid taking a wrong path. Please, if there are good 
resources or websites with literacy projects evaluations let me know.
 

 
I think that Mary Ann topic about functional literacy is a very important 
one. If Paulo Freire´s ideas and critical literacy have been used in 
libraries services, I would like to contact them and have some feedback.
 

 
thanks a lot, Ana Duckworth
 

 

 

 
Em 27 Jan 2003, Nicole Meiring escreveu:
 

 
>Mary Ann Corley wrote: With private funding, perhaps we can help adult 
 
>learners to understand some of the underlying reasons for their poverty and 

 
>to findtheir voices. 
 
>
 
>I'm very interested in the creation of programs/ideas as vehicles to 
promote 
 
>adult learners' voice. Does anyone know of any resources that might be 
 
>helpful in that area? 
 
>
 
>Thanks! 
 
> Nicole Meiring 
 
> Student Services Coordinator 
 
> Columbus Literacy Council 
 
>
 
>----- Original Message ----- 
 
>From: "Mary Ann Corley" <macorley1@earthlink.net> 
 
>To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> 
 
>Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 9:20 PM 
 
>Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:1015] Re: January is Poverty Awareness Month 
 
>
 
>> Hi, Peg: 
 
>> 
 
>> Thanks for the good words. You're right--we all can have a hand in 
 
>> spreading this message. There are so many misperceptions about poverty 
 
>that 
 
>> it's incumbent on all of us to help get accurate information to the 
 
>various 
 
>> publics (the media, policy makers, funders, the general public). If any 
 
>> subscribers to the list have tried to reach various publics by speaking 
to 
 
>> these issues, would you share your stories with this list? 
 
>> 
 
>> There are some hard questions here: Adult educators long have supported a 

 
>> functional definition of literacy, maintaining that literacy skills 
 
>> acquisition facilitates access to employment. But in an economy in which 

 
>> there are not enough jobs to go around that pay a living wage, and in a 
 
>> society in which race and socioeconomic status often can be barriers to 
 
>> quality education and employment, does this functional definition of 
 
>> literacy lose its value and appeal to potential learners? In these tough 

 
>> financial times, when adult education budgets face the threat of serious 

 
>> reductions, should we be rethinking ways in which we deliver services and 

 
>do 
 
>> more than "teach the word"? Isn't this a time for us to work toward 
 
>raising 
 
>> learners' critical consciousness, a la Freire and others? How can we make 

 
>> our programs more culturally relevant and also help learners to find 
their 
 
>> voices? (These types of programs typically do not receive public 
 
>funding.) 
 
>> At the risk of raising an outcry among my colleagues, I ask whether we 
 
>> should put our energies into approaching private foundations to build 
 
>> support for critical literacy programs rather than appealing to the 
 
>federal 
 
>> government, which imposes regulations on the type of literacy instruction 

 
>> that we provide. What I'm asking is whether we would have greater 
 
>successes 
 
>> teaching critical literacy (with private funding) rather than continuing 

 
>to 
 
>> offer literacy programs via public funding. Public funding dictates that 

 
>we 
 
>> offer literacy programs in a work-first environment, although we graduate 

 
>> learners to a world in which there are not enough jobs that can pull them 

 
>> out of poverty. With private funding, perhaps we can help adult learners 

 
>to 
 
>> understand some of the underlying reasons for their poverty and to find 
 
>> their voices. 
 
>> 
 
>> Will anyone jump in on this discussion? Let's hear from you! 
 
>> 
 
>> Thanks, 
 
>> -Mary Ann Corley 
 
>> Povracelit List Moderator 
 
>> 
 
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
 
>> From: "Margarita Oliver" 
 
>> To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> 
 
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 3:21 AM 
 
>> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:1014] Re: January is Poverty Awareness Month 
 
>> 
 
>> 
 
>> > Mary Ann Corley, 
 
>> > Just re-visited this site. Can you get it to Nightline and/or 
 
>other 
 
>> > such TV programs? Can you get related literacy statistics to those 
 
>> > programs? Getting them to listservs is preaching to the choir. Or 
 
>could 
 
>> > we all forward a message to such noticeable places? THANK YOU for what 

 
>> you 
 
>> > are doing! 
 
>> > 
 
>> > Peg Oliver 
 
>> > -----Original Message----- 
 
>> > From: Mary Ann Corley <macorley1@earthlink.net> 
 
>> > To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> 
 
>> > Date: Thursday, January 09, 2003 11:56 PM 
 
>> > Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:1004] January is Poverty Awareness Month 
 
>> > 
 
>> > 
 
>> > >Hi, All: 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > >The following references are cross-posted from 
 
>A-Librarian-At-Every-Table 
 
>> > >list. 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > >-Mary Ann Corley 
 
>> > >Nifl-povracelit List Moderator 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > >Nearly 33 million Americans have fallen into poverty - more 
 
>> > >people than a year ago, the highest number in years. What 
 
>> > >does it mean to the life of our nation to have so many 
 
>> > >people lost in a shadowy state of uncertainty and need? 
 
>> > >What does it mean to be poor in America - to be a resident of 
 
>> > >the forgotten state of poverty? Click on POVERTY TOUR on 
 
>> > >http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour2.htm 
 
>> > >Poverty USA site: 
 
>> > >http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/index.htm 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > >REGRESSIVE TAXES FOR POOR & MIDDLE-CLASS 
 
>> > >The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has just 
 
>> > >released "Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax 
 
>> > >Systems in All 50 States."By an overwhelming margin, most 
 
>> > >states tax their middle- and low-income families far more 
 
>> > >heavily than the wealthy, the study finds.Most states 
 
>> > >require their poor and middle-income taxpayers to pay the 
 
>> > >most taxes as a share of income -- and the ways in which 
 
>> > >states have managed their budgets during the last decade 
 
>> > >have made this problem worse." State-by-state reports and 
 
>> > >"Top Ten" lists. 
 
>> > >http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/whopays.htm 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > >POOR HAVE FALLEN OUT OF POLITICAL FAVOR 
 
>> > >Despite the outpouring of support and generosity for the poor 
 
>> > >during the holiday season, Americans don't really seem to 
 
>> > >care about low-income people. Despite reports that hunger 
 
>> > >and homelessness have increased dramatically over the last 
 
>> > >year (U.S. Conference of Mayors report), raising the issue of 
 
>> > >poverty in America has fallen out of political favor. "We 
 
>> > >have indeed slipped into class warfare in our country, but 
 
>> > >it is being fought top down, as the well off harvest new 
 
>> > >gains for themselves from the powerless poor. And no 
 
>> > >number of charitable gestures, as admirable as they are, can 
 
>> > >make up the difference." 
 
>> > >http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/4825227.htm 
 
>> > > 
 
>> > 
 
>> 
 
>
 
>---------- 



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