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For those of you who are interested in the Center
for Literacy and adult literacy programs.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 12:22 PM
Subject: [nolphiladelphia] Bush Budget: 75% Cut in Federal Support
for Adult Literacy Proposed (where's his mother now that we need
her?)
JoAnn
Weinberger
President/Executive Director
Center for Literacy
Sent: Tue 2/15/2005 2:38 PM
LEGISLATIVE ALERT
PRESIDENT BUSH’S PROPOSED CUTS TO ADULT
EDUCATION
AND EVEN START
GET INVOLVED NOW!
As you may know by now, the President's proposed
fiscal 2006 budget calls for a reduction of state grant funds for adult
basic education and literacy from $501 million (Fiscal 2005 level) to $131
million. It calls for no reduction in the $68.5 million funding pool for
English Literacy/Civics that is a subset of the state grant funds. If
Congress meets its deadline for finalizing the 2006 budget of September 30,
the budget will go into effect on July 1, 2006. The President's
proposal also eliminates funding for Even Start, but level funds the
National Institute for Literacy and National Leadership
Activities.
For Pennsylvania, the funding cut would be
75.1%, from $19,212,919 to $4,785,399. This requires a massive,
sustained response, one that articulates the growing outrage over the
decision to attempt the destruction of the adult education system in this
country. This campaign will start with 19 PAACE members who will
become point persons for each of the 19 U.S. representatives. Would
you like to become a point person? Please e-mail JoAnn Weinberger at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
. Your assistance is needed for this initiative. These “point
persons” will work with the local programs to encourage that
everyone participates.
To fight this recommendation and inform the
Pennsylvania delegation that this should not be enacted, PAACE has
formulated a multi-pronged approach. As you do these things, please
e-mail JoAnn and tell her what you did and with whom you
communicated.
1. Letters to Senator Santorum, Senator Specter, and
Representatives . Every program is asked to send 35 letters to each of
these three individuals. See a draft letter below.
2. Postcards. PAACE will be pre-printing postcards so
thousands can be sent or hand-delivered to the local legislator’s
office.
3. Visits. Congresspersons will be in their home office
February 22-25, and March 21-April 1. Call now to schedule a
visit. Take a businessperson and a learner.
4. Invitations to be guest speakers. Do you have a
recognition event or graduation this spring? Invite your
legislator.
5. Telephone calls.
6. Student Writings. You may want to use the following
prompt: “What would it mean if your class (or tutoring program) was
cancelled?” Gather these writings together and send them to both senators
and your representative.
7. Letters to the Editora draft will be
forthcoming
Do you need information on who your
representative is? Go to:
www.house.gov, type in your Zip+4 digit zip code (e.g., 01234-5555) and
click Go. If you do not know your Zip+4 digit zip code, go to www.usps.com and click on Find A Zip
Code.
Addresses for Pennsylvania’s U.S.
Senators:
Senator Rick Santorum
511 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-6324 (phone)
(202) 228-0604 (fax)
Go to the website: www.santorum.senate.gov and there
is a link for e-mails
Senator Arlen Specter
711 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-4254 (phone)
(202) 228-1229
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
TELEPHONE CALL SCRIPT:
When you call, you will likely talk to either an
aide or someone answering the telephone who is keeping a tally of the calls
they receive on this issue. You may only have time to identify
yourself and state your position against the cuts so be sure to do that
first.
Give your name and address.
Say you are a constituent and a registered
voter.
Say you are calling because you are against the
President's proposed cuts for adult education and Even Start in the FY2006
budget, and you want the adult education funding to be
maintained.
If you have time, say why adult education is
important to you.
Student stories are very persuasive. They
can talk about how adult education has made a difference in their lives,
e.g., helped them get a job or a better job, become a taxpayer, obtain a
high school credential, or obtain health insurance for themselves and their
family.
Teachers can talk about individual student
stories or their own commitment and passion for adult education and why it's
important to the community, the state and the country.
Administrators can talk about how many
individuals are served annually by their program, the goals that students
achieve, how the federal funds leverage state and local support, and the
importance of adult education.
Volunteers can talk about why adult education is
important to them, and why they donate their valuable time to teach someone
else in their community.
Board members or businesspersons can talk about
why the program is important.
LETTER WRITING
SUGGESTIONS:
Follow the suggested telephone script outlined
above.
Whenever possible, mail and fax your
letter. The fax will get there immediately, and mailing your letter
will increase the volume of letters that your Representative receives.
DRAFT LETTER:
Subject: Maintain funding for Adult
Education and Even Start
Dear
I am writing to oppose the proposed cut to adult
education and Even Start and want the funding to be restored to its current
level.
As a __________(administrator, teacher, board
member, volunteer, businessperson, learner), I know first hand of the
importance of these programs.
[insert a couple sentences from personal
experience].
Please do not destroy the adult education
system. These programs are needed in my community.
Sincerely yours,
Name
Address
Do you have questions about this process?
Please let me know.
JoAnn Weinberger
PAACE Legislative Chair
And
President/Executive Director
Center for Literacy
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
3
3
Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218
Chestnut St.,
Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ISCV web site: http://www.iscv.org
Also Check out "Neighborhoods
Online" at http://www.neighborhoodsonline.net.
Or in Philadelphia:
http://www.phillyneighborhoods.org
"Citizenship is
the American ideal. There may be an army of actualities
opposed to that
ideal, but there is no ideal opposed to that
ideal."
--G.K. Chesterton
To Post a message, send it
to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To Unsubscribe, send a blank
message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To check out or post
events to the Calendar, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/calendar/nolphiladelphia
To
access Neighborhoods Online-Philadelphia go to: http://phillyneighborhoods.org
Also
check out the following related web sites:
http://phillyblocks.org for block
issues.
Yahoo! Groups Links
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