Media Room
Gretchen Wilson Lends Voice to Needs of 32 Million Adult Learners
Grammy® Winner on Capitol Hill to Advocate for Expanded Adult Literacy Funding  | | ProLiteracy President and CEO David Harvey, with Gretchen Wilson (right) and Donna Jones (left). Donna is the ProLiteracy Student Advisory Council Chairperson. |
WASHINGTON, May 5, 2009 — Grammy® and Country Music Association winning singer Gretchen Wilson joined a chorus of adult learners and adult literacy advocates on Capitol Hill today calling for expanded federal funding for the estimated 32 million adults who need access to adult literacy and education programs to improve basic reading, writing, math and computing skills. During a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness, Wilson told her personal story of earning her G.E.D. diploma just last year after having stopped attending high school at the age of 15 and called on Congress to make funding for adult education more accessible. The hearing was held to discuss best practices for improving adult education and family literacy as the House works towards reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which has not been reauthorized since its installment in 1998. Title II of the Act establishes the structure, service and size of federally funded adult education and literacy programs. Among those testifying alongside Wilson was Stephen Reder, Ph.D., university professor and chair of the department of applied linguistics at Portland State University and board member of ProLiteracy; David Beré, president and chief strategy officer of Dollar General, the nation's largest small-box discount retailer that supports adult literacy programs; and Marty Finsterbusch, executive director of Voice of Adult Learners United to Educate (VALUE), the only national organization governed and operated by current and former adult learners. "With millions of Americans out of work, many of whom are low-skilled, this is a critical time for Congress to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act and to expand Title II to provider greater access to funding for community-based adult literacy and basic education programs," said David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy, the world's oldest and largest organization of adult literacy programs. "As a country, we have to do more at all levels of the education system to help these 32 million adults gain the literacy and English skills needed for success in the workplace and for meeting President Obama's goal of completing at least one year of postsecondary school or career training." In addition to the hearing, 75 adult learners from across the country traveled to Washington, D.C. to be part of a joint literacy conference sponsored by VALUE and ProLiteracy and meet with individual members of Congress to tell of their own educational challenges and present a Statement of Adult Learner Rights. The statement notes that "the ability to read, write, perform math and use technology is a basic human right" and that "literacy skills are key to reducing poverty, crime, poor health, high health costs, human rights abuse and increasing the literacy of children." Sign the Statement of Adult Learner Rights
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