NCL Board Members,

Here is my report on my meeting with Matt Meyer in Rep. Roe’s office last week. (Rep. Roe is the Republican co-chair of the Caucus.) I am cc’ing Judy Mortrude on this report as it is relevant to her role with the policy committee.

1. Briefings. I mentioned the possibility of a briefing this spring and he wasn’t all that enthusiastic. Bear in mind, “enthusiasm" is a relative term with Matt — in general, he is very enthusiastic about the caucus and open to anything. But, that said, he said he prefers using briefings as a tool to make a strategic push on a specific policy objective, not just for general awareness. And we don’t really have a specific policy objective at the moment (more money would not be one). And he agrees timing is not great for a briefing this spring or in September. We sort of landed on the idea of having the caucus co-sponsor the awards (as usual) and table a briefing until next year with a more well-formed idea (more on that below).

2. Democratic co-chair in the next Congress. We talked a little bit about potential co-chairs after Rep Hinojosa retires this fall. Matt looked at the list of current caucus members, and pointed to Rep. Polis and Rep. Yarmouth as people that Rep. Roe has a good working relationship with (funny as they are two of the most liberal members of the House!). But he is open to other suggestions. [My two cents: Yarmouth probably a better choice. Rep. Polis has been a great friend to us but he represents a relatively wealthy district where the need for adult ed is not all that great. Yarmouth also has strong interest in/history with literacy — esp. family literacy. His district includes Louisville, KY, home of one of our members, NCFL.]

3. Recruitment. Again, without a clear set of activities or agenda for the next several months — plus Hinojosa’s impending retirement —plus the fact that we’re heading into an election season, with members out of town a lot etc. — Matt not that interested in active recruitment of new caucus members at this time. Thinks bigger push makes more sense next Congress. However, he is of course happy to add new members if they are interested, and he is going to either find or generate a new Dear Colleague on joining the caucus that we can distribute to NCL members to use to recruit their reps to the caucus.

4. Hearing (!). We talked a little bit about the hearing we had on adult literacy back in 2009 (?) (Marty will remember the exact year - he testified at this hearing.) So I floated the idea of another hearing as something the caucus might organize… not sure how to read Matt’s reaction — he wasn’t against the idea per se, but noncommittal. He really liked getting Gretchen Wilson up here to testify. So my partial read is that he’s thinking that the benefit of such a hearing would be to draw attention with a celebrity witness. Or that he just likes to have an excuse to meet a celebrity. Or just really likes Gretchen.

Hearings are tricky… we don’t want to get behind something that might not put our field in a good light. I was thinking, for example, a hearing on how adult ed is faring under WIOA in 2017 or 2018 might be good, but also might be bad for us if not thought out well.

5. AEFL Week idea. This was the highlight of the meeting from my perspective. Matt really likes the idea of spotlighting successes at the congressional district level as a way to engage existing caucus members, and potentially generate new caucus members — and then to draw on those local successes as the focal point of a follow-up briefing here in D.C. down the line. I thought this kind of an effort might work well in the context of AEFL week. In other words, instead of a briefing this year, what if we worked with the field on x number of district-level events in September highlighting successful approaches/partnerships/programs etc. I’m not suggesting we have the capacity to lead and organize events around the country, but maybe we could identify some prospects, offer encouragement, and play some sort of linking/coordination role in such events during AEFL week. This would provide some structure to our AEFL week effort: highlighting good stuff going on around the country, but with a specific focus on engaging members of Congress in events that recognize those successes. And building foundation for a briefing in 2017 with the new Congress.

That’s about it. Really positive meeting. I was really encouraged. I will follow up with Matt on the letter, and next steps on our idea re AEFL week. In the meantime, I’m interested to your reaction/questions about the AEFL week idea.

Finally, I said on our call last week that after I met with Matt, I’d circle back with the awards event committee and initiate a call in lieu of a chair being named. I was hoping to do this at the end of last week but got bogged down with other stuff. I’ll send around a doodle. I’ll send the invite to the entire board… let me know in the meantime if you are interested in chairing the event committee going forward.

Thanks,

Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks for this great report on your meeting with Matt Meyer. It really is encouraging, and I like the AEFL Week idea a lot. Wondering whether our journalist colleagues at Ed Week and elsewhere might be able to assist with identifying the kinds of successes we’re interested in.

Of course, Rosario is a wonderful success story, but alas, it’s in the District.

I have an idea for an award nominee, so look forward to the awards event meeting.

Deborah

Deborah Kennedy
Associate Vice President, Adult English Language Education
Director, English for Heritage Language Speakers Program
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
Voice: 202-355-1572

www.cal.org/adultesl
www.ehlsprogram.org

From: Board [mailto:board-bounces@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Carter
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 5:53 PM
To: National Coalition for Literacy Board Members List
Cc: Judy Mortrude
Subject: [NCL Board] Adult Literacy Caucus Update

NCL Board Members,

Here is my report on my meeting with Matt Meyer in Rep. Roe’s office last week. (Rep. Roe is the Republican co-chair of the Caucus.) I am cc’ing Judy Mortrude on this report as it is relevant to her role with the policy committee.

1. Briefings. I mentioned the possibility of a briefing this spring and he wasn’t all that enthusiastic. Bear in mind, “enthusiasm" is a relative term with Matt — in general, he is very enthusiastic about the caucus and open to anything. But, that said, he said he prefers using briefings as a tool to make a strategic push on a specific policy objective, not just for general awareness. And we don’t really have a specific policy objective at the moment (more money would not be one). And he agrees timing is not great for a briefing this spring or in September. We sort of landed on the idea of having the caucus co-sponsor the awards (as usual) and table a briefing until next year with a more well-formed idea (more on that below).

2. Democratic co-chair in the next Congress. We talked a little bit about potential co-chairs after Rep Hinojosa retires this fall. Matt looked at the list of current caucus members, and pointed to Rep. Polis and Rep. Yarmouth as people that Rep. Roe has a good working relationship with (funny as they are two of the most liberal members of the House!). But he is open to other suggestions. [My two cents: Yarmouth probably a better choice. Rep. Polis has been a great friend to us but he represents a relatively wealthy district where the need for adult ed is not all that great. Yarmouth also has strong interest in/history with literacy — esp. family literacy. His district includes Louisville, KY, home of one of our members, NCFL.]

3. Recruitment. Again, without a clear set of activities or agenda for the next several months — plus Hinojosa’s impending retirement —plus the fact that we’re heading into an election season, with members out of town a lot etc. — Matt not that interested in active recruitment of new caucus members at this time. Thinks bigger push makes more sense next Congress. However, he is of course happy to add new members if they are interested, and he is going to either find or generate a new Dear Colleague on joining the caucus that we can distribute to NCL members to use to recruit their reps to the caucus.

4. Hearing (!). We talked a little bit about the hearing we had on adult literacy back in 2009 (?) (Marty will remember the exact year - he testified at this hearing.) So I floated the idea of another hearing as something the caucus might organize… not sure how to read Matt’s reaction — he wasn’t against the idea per se, but noncommittal. He really liked getting Gretchen Wilson up here to testify. So my partial read is that he’s thinking that the benefit of such a hearing would be to draw attention with a celebrity witness. Or that he just likes to have an excuse to meet a celebrity. Or just really likes Gretchen.

Hearings are tricky… we don’t want to get behind something that might not put our field in a good light. I was thinking, for example, a hearing on how adult ed is faring under WIOA in 2017 or 2018 might be good, but also might be bad for us if not thought out well.

5. AEFL Week idea. This was the highlight of the meeting from my perspective. Matt really likes the idea of spotlighting successes at the congressional district level as a way to engage existing caucus members, and potentially generate new caucus members — and then to draw on those local successes as the focal point of a follow-up briefing here in D.C. down the line. I thought this kind of an effort might work well in the context of AEFL week. In other words, instead of a briefing this year, what if we worked with the field on x number of district-level events in September highlighting successful approaches/partnerships/programs etc. I’m not suggesting we have the capacity to lead and organize events around the country, but maybe we could identify some prospects, offer encouragement, and play some sort of linking/coordination role in such events during AEFL week. This would provide some structure to our AEFL week effort: highlighting good stuff going on around the country, but with a specific focus on engaging members of Congress in events that recognize those successes. And building foundation for a briefing in 2017 with the new Congress.

That’s about it. Really positive meeting. I was really encouraged. I will follow up with Matt on the letter, and next steps on our idea re AEFL week. In the meantime, I’m interested to your reaction/questions about the AEFL week idea.

Finally, I said on our call last week that after I met with Matt, I’d circle back with the awards event committee and initiate a call in lieu of a chair being named. I was hoping to do this at the end of last week but got bogged down with other stuff. I’ll send around a doodle. I’ll send the invite to the entire board… let me know in the meantime if you are interested in chairing the event committee going forward.

Thanks,

Jeff

Ditto Jeff. Thanks for all your work on this! You certainly covered a lot with Matt. As Silja mentioned, this aligns well with our recent conversation about AEFL week. I look forward to talking more about this in our upcoming meetings.

Michele

From: Board [mailto:board-bounces@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org] On Behalf Of Silja Kallenbach
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2016 7:55 AM
To: Jeff Carter jcarter@literacypolicy.org
Cc: Judy Mortrude jmortrude@clasp.org; National Coalition for Literacy Board Members List board@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org
Subject: Re: [NCL Board] Adult Literacy Caucus Update

Thanks for your efforts and insights Jeff. The AEFL Week ideas align well with what Heather, Michelle and I talked about. We have a follow-up meeting in April and will be in a better position to share them after that.
Silja

On Tuesday, March 29, 2016, Jeff Carter <jcarter@literacypolicy.orgmailto:jcarter@literacypolicy.org> wrote:
NCL Board Members,

Here is my report on my meeting with Matt Meyer in Rep. Roe’s office last week. (Rep. Roe is the Republican co-chair of the Caucus.) I am cc’ing Judy Mortrude on this report as it is relevant to her role with the policy committee.

1. Briefings. I mentioned the possibility of a briefing this spring and he wasn’t all that enthusiastic. Bear in mind, “enthusiasm" is a relative term with Matt — in general, he is very enthusiastic about the caucus and open to anything. But, that said, he said he prefers using briefings as a tool to make a strategic push on a specific policy objective, not just for general awareness. And we don’t really have a specific policy objective at the moment (more money would not be one). And he agrees timing is not great for a briefing this spring or in September. We sort of landed on the idea of having the caucus co-sponsor the awards (as usual) and table a briefing until next year with a more well-formed idea (more on that below).

2. Democratic co-chair in the next Congress. We talked a little bit about potential co-chairs after Rep Hinojosa retires this fall. Matt looked at the list of current caucus members, and pointed to Rep. Polis and Rep. Yarmouth as people that Rep. Roe has a good working relationship with (funny as they are two of the most liberal members of the House!). But he is open to other suggestions. [My two cents: Yarmouth probably a better choice. Rep. Polis has been a great friend to us but he represents a relatively wealthy district where the need for adult ed is not all that great. Yarmouth also has strong interest in/history with literacy — esp. family literacy. His district includes Louisville, KY, home of one of our members, NCFL.]

3. Recruitment. Again, without a clear set of activities or agenda for the next several months — plus Hinojosa’s impending retirement —plus the fact that we’re heading into an election season, with members out of town a lot etc. — Matt not that interested in active recruitment of new caucus members at this time. Thinks bigger push makes more sense next Congress. However, he is of course happy to add new members if they are interested, and he is going to either find or generate a new Dear Colleague on joining the caucus that we can distribute to NCL members to use to recruit their reps to the caucus.

4. Hearing (!). We talked a little bit about the hearing we had on adult literacy back in 2009 (?) (Marty will remember the exact year - he testified at this hearing.) So I floated the idea of another hearing as something the caucus might organize… not sure how to read Matt’s reaction — he wasn’t against the idea per se, but noncommittal. He really liked getting Gretchen Wilson up here to testify. So my partial read is that he’s thinking that the benefit of such a hearing would be to draw attention with a celebrity witness. Or that he just likes to have an excuse to meet a celebrity. Or just really likes Gretchen.

Hearings are tricky… we don’t want to get behind something that might not put our field in a good light. I was thinking, for example, a hearing on how adult ed is faring under WIOA in 2017 or 2018 might be good, but also might be bad for us if not thought out well.

5. AEFL Week idea. This was the highlight of the meeting from my perspective. Matt really likes the idea of spotlighting successes at the congressional district level as a way to engage existing caucus members, and potentially generate new caucus members — and then to draw on those local successes as the focal point of a follow-up briefing here in D.C. down the line. I thought this kind of an effort might work well in the context of AEFL week. In other words, instead of a briefing this year, what if we worked with the field on x number of district-level events in September highlighting successful approaches/partnerships/programs etc. I’m not suggesting we have the capacity to lead and organize events around the country, but maybe we could identify some prospects, offer encouragement, and play some sort of linking/coordination role in such events during AEFL week. This would provide some structure to our AEFL week effort: highlighting good stuff going on around the country, but with a specific focus on engaging members of Congress in events that recognize those successes. And building foundation for a briefing in 2017 with the new Congress.

That’s about it. Really positive meeting. I was really encouraged. I will follow up with Matt on the letter, and next steps on our idea re AEFL week. In the meantime, I’m interested to your reaction/questions about the AEFL week idea.

Finally, I said on our call last week that after I met with Matt, I’d circle back with the awards event committee and initiate a call in lieu of a chair being named. I was hoping to do this at the end of last week but got bogged down with other stuff. I’ll send around a doodle. I’ll send the invite to the entire board… let me know in the meantime if you are interested in chairing the event committee going forward.

Thanks,

Jeff

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Silja kallenbach [Red Squares] Vice President [Red Squares]  617.482.9485
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