Six Easy Ways to Advocate

September is a HUGE month for advocacy in adult education!

We will once again be participating in COABE’s Capitol Hill Day which will take place on September 26th. Board member Natalie Reuter will be attending the event in Washington D.C. and will be meeting with Indiana legislators to tell them about the importance of adult education in our state.

Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFL) Week will be celebrated from September 24th to September 30th this year. This is the week to raise public awareness about the need and value of adult education and family literacy in order to leverage resources to support access to basic education programs for the 36 million U.S. adults with low literacy skills. Please use this opportunity to elevate adult education and family literacy nationwide with policymakers, the media, and the community.

Advocacy takes time but we have a few ideas (with links) that make advocating for adult education quick and easy:
1. Ask your students, colleagues and friends to get involved by sending a quick email and/or letter. The Educate & Elevate campaign’s Quickfire email tool allows you to enter your contact information, finds your state legislators, and shows you a preview of the letter (which you may edit) before sending. Pro Literacy has created several letter templates making it simple for students, volunteers and members to get involved.

2. Send a postcard. This editable ready-to-mail postcard is ready to be printed and sent! Ask you students, friends, family and colleagues to sign one too! Don’t forget to add a quick note urging them to support funding for Adult Education to help us build a strong economy.

3. Schedule a visit with your legislator (find you legislator here). The COABE website has a great webpage dedicated to arranging and conducting visits with legislators and their staff/representatives here.

4. Use social media! Customize and share the National Coalition for Literacy’s (NCL) AEFL Week social media messaging for direct service providers, policy makers, and donors OR copy and paste the social media messages/images ProLiteracy has prepared.

5. Submit your student and employer success stories by emailing them to iaace2@gmail.com or by visiting the Educate and Elevate webpage.

6. Submit your innovation stories. If you have a narrative summary of an adult education program, project or initiative that has been innovative in helping students, employers and/or your community let us know or visit the Educate and Elevate webpage.

If you need more information view the Educate & Elevate webinars for inspiration, download the ProLiteracy AEFL Week toolkit, or view NCL’s AEFL Week resource page.