COABE, 100+ Partners Mark National
Adult Education and Family Literacy Week With Call for $1B in Federal Funding Additional
Funding Needed to Help Nation's Adult Education System Recover, Reskill
Displaced Workers for Jobs
PR
Newswire: 9.21.2020 by Coalition on Adult Basic Education
Joined
by more than 100
state, national and corporate partners, including Amazon, Google and IBM,
the National Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) is intensifying its
effort during National
Adult Education and Family Literacy Week to secure $1 billion in federal
funding to help adult education programs and their learners recover from the
pandemic.
National
Adult Education and Family Literacy Week began Sunday and runs through
Saturday, Sept. 26. During this week, COABE is
spearheading a full schedule of activities designed to amplify the call on Congress to provide the additional funding and on state governors to allocate
federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) stimulus
funding to the adult education recovery.
The
call for additional funding comes at a time when the education and skills
provided by the nation's system of adult education are needed to help reskill
or upskill low-skill Americans into new jobs that provide family-sustaining
wages. According to recent findings published by the American
Institutes for Research, 43 million adults in the United States lack the
skills needed for the bulk of the nation's family-sustaining careers.
"Adult
education is an important part of our nation's economic recovery from
COVID-19," said Sharon Bonney, CEO of COABE, which represents the field of
65,000 adult educators nationally. "It's low-skilled adults who are more
likely to be negatively impacted by the current economic crisis and who are in
need of upskilling. Adult education programs are struggling to get back on
their feet and need help so they can safely and adequately educate displaced
workers and give them the skills they need to get back to work, this time in
better jobs."
The
nation's system of adult education has been hard-hit by COVID-19. Programs have
struggled with the transition from brick and mortar to a virtual setting; to
train educators to deliver online instruction; to provide students with the
technology needed for at-home learning; and to find – and afford – the physical
space and personal protective equipment needed for safe social distancing for
the return to in-person learning.
Of
the more than 43 million adults who could benefit from services in the U.S.,
1.5 million adults, with 74 percent of them being persons of color, received
instruction under the Workforce
Opportunity and Innovation Act (WIOA). COABE estimates the return on
investment for adult education, which includes preparing adults to earn their
High School Equivalency diploma, is $2.5 billion in tax revenue and reduced
expenses for every 400,000 adults who earn a high school diploma – a savings of
$6,250 per person.
The week's activities include Virtual Hill Meetings
with governors and members of Congress, led by state adult education associations;
a Twitter
"storm;" and daily awards ceremonies to honor elected officials,
at the local, state and national levels, who have shown leadership in the area
of adult education. View the full schedule of events and elected officials to
be honored.
Among
the partners joining the effort are Amazon, The Barbara Bush Foundation, Dollar
General Literacy Foundation, Google, IBM, Markle, the National Association of
State Directors of Adult Education, National Coalition for Literacy, National
Governors Association, National Skills Coalition, SkillsUSA, Strada Network,
Tyson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and The United States Conference of Mayors.
View
the list of corporate partners.
About
COABE
The Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) is a
non-profit organization that champions increased access and investment in adult
education, leading to higher-quality instruction and greater student outcomes.
We employ innovative and effective strategies to reach more adults who struggle
with literacy, numeracy and problem-solving. COABE represents the field of
nearly 65,000 adult educators and provides a variety of services, including
professional development through annual, state-of-the-art national conferences,
more than 50 webinars annually, and publication of the COABE Journal.
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