Carolina TESOL participates in
TESOL Advocacy Day 2009
On June 24, 2009, Erin Sebelius (NC) and Wendy Griffin (SC) joined 22 other TESOL members representing 18 U.S. based affiliates in Washington, DC for TESOL Advocacy Day 2009. This event featured a day of issue briefings and workshops, capped by visits to Congressional offices on Capitol Hill. The goals of Advocacy Day were not only to lobby on key issues for TESOL, but also to provide an interactive learning experience for affiliate representatives on elements of advocacy, and to allow us to begin to cultivate relationships with key offices in Congress. By the end of the day, TESOL members had visited the offices of more than 70 representatives and senators.
Responding to recent Congressional action, TESOL Advocacy Day 2009 was focused on adult ESOL and the efforts to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). To maximize the impact of TESOL Advocacy Day, key members of Congress serving on the education and appropriations committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives were identified for meetings. This year, Erin met with staff from the offices of NC Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr, while Wendy met with SC Representative Bob Inglis and staff from the office of Representative Joe Wilson.
We set up our own meetings with each office and did some background research on the issues as well as on our legislators' positions on education and specifically on adult education and ESOL. TESOL sent us talking points and briefs on WIA and adult ESOL, which we had to study as well. We wanted to be as informed as possible in order to impress upon the legislators and their staffers that we can be resources for them as they are writing and deliberating legislation.
Some of the key points we stressed in our meetings were:
- Because ELLs now comprise the largest and fastest-growing percentage of adult ed students, ESOL needs to be an integral part of WIA (currently it's sort of a side note, and the EL/Civics component is not even specifically written into the law, so that funding source could disappear anytime!)
- More integration is needed between WIA's Title I (job training) and Title II (adult ed) so that ESOL and job training can be integrated, which in programs like Washington State's I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training) has been proven more successful than the sequential model where students have to first learn English before they can get job training.
- Successful adults are key to raising successful children. By supporting efforts to increase the literacy and job readiness skills of our immigrant population now, we will be positively impacting these families and our nation for generations to come.
- And of course, more funding is needed! Currently only about 5% of adult ELLs are enrolled in programs, and we all know how long the waiting lists are nationwide. With the Obama administration now promising immigration reform within a year, and with reform likely to include an English proficiency component, we could soon see demand for our services skyrocket. Programs need the funding now to expand and improve services in order to be ready for this increased demand.
Our country is and always has been a nation of immigrants. The perennial success of our country is due in large part to the diversity of our population. In order to maintain/ improve our national and international strength, we must support those people new to our country in learning our language, assimilating into our culture and acquiring the skills needed to be contributing, successful members of our society.
Please consider contacting YOUR Senator and Representative and urging them to support this year's reauthorization of WIA incorporating these key points. You can find more information and your legislators' contact information at the TESOL U.S. Advocacy Action Center at http://capwiz.com/tesol.
Additional information about TESOL Advocacy Day, including photographs and video of the interactive workshop, will be available on the TESOL web site at http://www.tesol.org.
PS- a note from John Segota, TESOL's Director of Advocacy:
Since TESOL's Advocacy Day, over 230 messages have been sent to members of Congress urging them to support adult ESL and WIA reauthorization.
Special congratulations go to the top 5 affiliates in terms of the number of messages generated!
New Jersey - 55 messages
Illinois - 48 messages
Maryland - 33 messages
California - 23 messages
Michigan* - 17 messages
The grassroots campaign is off to a good start, but many more messages are needed.