Wearing out my fans and friends

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:12:59 +0100

Poor AmeriCorps members - I put them through the longest version of "What I think I know about public policy in literacy" based on my masters research. Tried to go through the thought process that brought me to my conclusions, but I could tell I was losing them - so I tried to go quickly through lit review highlights, and had them fill out the readiness survey like the providers did in the research project (you know, participatory and all!) note to self: don't do Friday afternoon presentations. Went over to the findings and it got better. Tried to get someone interested in doing some research for extra hours on my cross-pollination idea - what other similar social service issues have done with message, advocates and successes, but no luck.

MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) would be a good success story to research on these 3 components. I think the mental health field might be similar to ours in that it has a high stigma attached to it; not many consumers are coming forth as advocates, and the public wants to pretend it doesn't exist or will just go away. Petrice also suggested looking at a social issue that has moved from stigma to success like the AIDS movement. Lucky for us ProLiteracy's new CEO came over from that issue and then opened up an office in Washington DC. I hope to get some time to talk to him one on one - he was not here very long for the COABE conference last fall.

Okay, so move to today - did a shortened version of the presentation at the provider meeting as they were the subjects of the research project conducted for the masters. They weren't interested in anything but the findings either, but I made them sit through all of it anyway. :D Then I moved onto what I'm doing to resolve my questions, and that elicited some good feedback.

That new work will be in the next post.

Why am I here?

Fri, 22 May 2009 21:40:12 +0100

Well, I just came out of a masters program with a lot of new information about public policy and advocacy in adult literacy as well as the realization that I still have so much more to learn. (Information about my experiences in the masters program is on the "My Journey" page.)

I have worked in adult literacy for over 10 years, and I have always wondered why the field has remained on the margins of public life and funding despite the efforts of dedicated advocates and a realization among just about everyone that there is a serious literacy issue in this country.

I think there are several reasons which lead to unanswered questions that I'm hoping to research and document on this website.

1. The adult literacy field relies primarily on practitioners to do the bulk of advocacy activities. As the quote from Hannah Fingeret implies (on the Getting Started page), the adult literacy field is under-resourced without infrastructure or adequate research to support building capacity for public policy activities. Although practitioners need to be at the core of policy work, who should shoulder the bulk of the activities?

2. The issue of literacy, while enormous in magnitude, does not have the urgency of other social service issues. For policy makers and the public at large, it takes too long, it costs too much, and there is no quick fix. What is the message about literacy that takes the breath away?

3. What I have learned about community organizing is from the Industrial Areas Foundation, which to be very brief, promotes a broad-based approach wherein groups of people come together to address issues that affect their lives by participating in public life. How can these techniques be used to create a power organization for a single issue?

4. The stigma of literacy and the complexities of adult learners' lives make it challenging to engage them in large enough numbers to create a strong consumer voice. Learners that do get together do not necessarily choose to spend their limited personal resources on policy work in favor of supporting existing learners or potential high school dropouts. What is the best way to address this?

Okay, that's all for tonight.
Learning Always,
Rachel

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Wearing out my fans and friends

Why am I here?