[NIFL-POVRACELIT:1027] Re: January is Poverty Awareness Month

From: Elsa Auerbach (Elsa.Auerbach@umb.edu)
Date: Wed Jan 29 2003 - 21:32:01 EST


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From: "Elsa Auerbach" <Elsa.Auerbach@umb.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:1027] Re: January is Poverty Awareness Month  
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The city of Cape Town has a wonderful public library literacy program which is in many neighborhoods.  They published a multilingual book of family stories written by participants (children and family members together). Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the contact person, but you may be able to find it on the web.

Elsa Auerbach

> ----------
> From: 	Ana Duckworth
> Reply To: 	nifl-povracelit@nifl.gov
> Sent: 	Wednesday, January 29, 2003 7:02 PM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	[NIFL-POVRACELIT:1025] Re: January is Poverty Awareness Month  
> 
> 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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