Dear Colleagues,
Please share the VALUE news release with adult learners and teachers in your 
area.

Jackie Taylor, List Moderator, NIFL-AALPD
======================
News Release
March 16, 2005

Media Contact: Chip Ridgewood, (610) 876-7625 or office at valueusa.org

Adult Learners School Legislators on Adult Education

On March 9 and 10, adult learners from 25 states plus the District of Columbia 
and Guam met with Senators and Congresspersons to educate them about the 
life-changing importance of adult education. These meetings were part of the 
civics education portion of VALUE's Fourth Biannual National Adult Learner 
Leadership Institute, held March 8-10 in Washington, DC. In total, adult 
learners personally talked with 5 Senators and 6 Representatives. Adult 
learners talked with staff of of an additional 15 Senators and 21 
Congresspersons.
During one meeting, Rep. George Miller (D-CA-07), ranking minority member of 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce told his constituent and VALUE 
board member Faye Combs that he would sponsor a Dear Colleague letter to the 
House Appropriations Committee opposing a 66% cut in adult education fund-ing 
included in the Administration's 2006 budget request.

Marty Finsterbusch, VALUE's Executive Director said "This is what we did in 
just 48 hours. Imagine what adult learners from all 50 states can accomplish 
in a sustained effort to personally validate the impact of adult basic 
education on their lives and their families." Finsterbusch added, "This 
Leadership Institute makes it possible for adult learner leaders and their 
legislators to learn from each other in the very place were literacy policy is 
made. It's an unparalleled civics education experience."

More than one hundred adult learner leaders from twenty-five states and two 
dozen literacy program staff attended this Institute. Events included 
receptions on Capitol Hill for House and Senate members and a banquet at the 
Library of Congress, which was hosted by the Library's Center for the Book. 
Adult learner leaders also took part in civics education and leadership 
skill-building workshops.

During this Institute, VALUE presented two awards. Verizon was recognized for 
its long-standing corporate commitment to the field of adult basic education 
and literacy. Laura Calderon, an adult learner leader from the Glades Tri-City 
Family Education Program and the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition in 
Delray Beach, Florida received the Susan Green Award. This award is given 
biannually to an adult learner leader who exemplifies Susan Green's qualities 
of seeing the best in other people and reaching out to help them pursue their 
own literacy leader objectives.

VALUE expressed its appreciation to the organizations that partnered with 
VALUE for this Leadership Institute. They include: D.C. LEARNs, Inc, 
Washington's city-wide literacy coalition; the D.C. Public Library's Adult 
Literacy Resource Center; the Southeast Professional Development Center in 
Lancaster-Lebanon, Pennsylvania; the National Adult Education Professional 
Development Consortium; and the American Library Association's Office of 
Outreach and Literacy Services.

VALUE, Inc. is a national nonprofit organization governed and operated by the 
alumni of adult basic education programs in the United States. Its mission is 
to strengthen adult education programs in the U.S. through learner involvement 
and leadership. VALUE is founded on the belief that input from current and 
former adult learners can help the literacy field improve recruitment, 
retention, curriculum reform, research, and resource development. For more 
information on the organization, visit www.valueusa.org.

It is a small world 
 During her senior year of high-school and freshman year 
of college, Amy Hille, a legislative assistant for Kentucky Congressperson Ben 
Chandler worked for Leadership Institute participant Phyllis Long in the Parks 
Department, unbeknownst to either of them until the House reception.
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