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Adult Education has a powerful gift to give the world. For those of us who teach adults, we know
the reward that comes in bestowing dignity, where there may have been only
shame; garnering confidence where there may have only been a deep fear of
failure. Adult education honors the
adult by opening a space for the learner to locate themselves, to be heard, to
take action and build a future. As partners in community planning in Franklin
and Hampshire counties, our goal in this assessment is to know more than ever
before about the place where we live and work, teach and learn. We want to ensure that the needs of all
adult learners are accounted for, so that our planning strategies will
guarantee that our community of learners can pursue and attain their goals.
The
erosion of the state-supported safety net is a trend with which we will have to
contend for the foreseeable future. As
the economic downturn squeezes resources, greater class differences and
physical segregation of the rich and poor are more starkly observed and felt. Already, we have seen some deep cuts in
state-funded programs throughout our community, and we will see more with the
budget cuts for the next year.
It is our community planning vision to realize the interdependent
nature of our service delivery in order to weather the trend of economic
downturn. Our planning goal is to put this realization into action, strengthen
our inter-relatedness through good communication across sectors, continue
already strong alliances - and most importantly, to listen.
Due to their geographical isolation and the distinctiveness
of their communities, the region called the North Quabbin which is actually
part of Franklin County, and the town of Ware, which is in Hampshire County
have both engaged in their own community planning processes. Each has their own
partnership and will be included as separate assessments in this document. The cities of Orange, Ware and Athol will,
however, appear in the secondary data on all charts in the two-county secondary
data section. TLP has sites that serve these more densely populated towns and
their potential constituents need to be demographically accounted for.
In their report, the North Quabbin will have its own
secondary data charts and analysis and as stated above, will still be included
statistically as part of Franklin County in the larger assessment. The town of Athol is also included in the
secondary data accounting of the North Quabbin region although it is actually
in Worchester County. There are also several small towns in both Ware and in
the North Quabbin that are served by their perspective TLP sites, however,
their demographics will not be included in the larger assessment data because
they are in Worchester County and have small enough populations not to affect
the numbers significantly.
B. Overview of the Franklin/Hampshire County Community Partnership
The community planning initiative in Franklin and
Hampshire counties began officially in
May of 2001 when three agencies who have a long history of collaboration, The
Literacy Project (TLP), The International Language Institute (ILI), and the
Center for New Americans (CNA) came together under the same grant to develop
common goals. A community partnership
comprised of representatives from the counties' school systems, social service
and government agencies, and corrections facilities were convened over a 2-year
period.
As stated previously, two separate CP initiatives were
carried out in Ware and the North Quabbin.
After careful recruitment and the hiring of a consultant
to aid in the process, 70 agencies in the two
counties have now made a commitment to the assessment phase, and hopefully to
the strategic planning phase as well.
Three well-attended meetings- two in 2001 and one in late 2002 have
introduced the partners to the community planning process, determined its value
for the community, and completed the task of deciding what information the
assessment should produce, within what populations, and which assessment
activities should be given priority.
The consultant and the three agencies, forthwith referred to as the
Coordinating Team (CT) took the discoveries and decisions of the larger
partnership and created four areas of focus:
·
OUT-OF-SCHOOL
AND OTHER YOUTH-AT-RISK
·
TRANSITIONING
TO WORK OR COLLEGE
·
ESOL
POPULATIONS AND OTHERS UNDERSERVED
BY ADULT EDUCATION
PROGRAMS
·
CORRECTIONS
REINTEGRATION
Focus groups, key informant interviews and surveys were
conducted in the communities in the two counties with populations identified by
the partnership, and carried out by the Coordinating Team and a consultant
hired for that purpose. The data
gathering was completed by November of 2002.
II.
Profile of Community Partnership
A. The Coordinating Team Agencies
The Center for New
Americans (CNA) is a community-based, non-profit adult education center providing
the immigrant, refugee and migrant communities of the Pioneer Valley with education and resources to learn English,
become involved members of their communities and obtain tools necessary to
maintain economic independence and stability.
CNA's program is based upon collaboration between students and agencies that
serve them. Using a participatory model of instruction, CNA teachers and tutors
involve learners in the development of curriculum and programs so that
activities are meaningful and responsive to the learners and their community.
To ensure that newcomers are welcomed into the Pioneer Valley
community, CNA works with area institutions, agencies, schools and employers to
provide programs and increase newcomers' access to information, services and
resources.
In response to student needs, CNA offers a comprehensive menu of services
including ESOL classes, civics and citizenship education, volunteer tutoring
support, basic computer skills training, family literacy activities, and
counseling and referral services.
International
Language Institute
The International
Language Institute of Massachusetts (ILI), begun in 1984, is a
Northampton-based, non-profit language school
providing comprehensive training in English and other languages. ILI is accredited by the Accrediting Council for
Continuing Education and Training and serves approximately 650 learners per
year. The school's teaching philosophy
is learner-centered and participatory.
ILI has been funded by the Massachusetts Department of Education since 1987 to
provide free English classes and services to immigrants and refugees. ILI's
free programs seek to meet the needs of immigrant learners in their roles
as individuals, parents, workers and
community members. Most ILI learners are
employed adults. They come from a broad range of countries and cultures
including Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, Poland, Puerto
Rico, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Tibet and Turkey.
In Northampton, ILI provides free ESOL classes, with employment and computer
literacy components. Instruction is supported by trained volunteer tutors from the community. ILI also matches
immigrant learners and native English speakers who are interested in practicing
each other's native language. Learners also have access to ILI's Self-Access Center, which houses an Internet-connected computer lab, video
and audio equipment, books and workbooks. ILI's free programs include an ESOL
and pre-GED Distance Learning pilot program based in Springfield. The project
is a collaboration with the Corporation for Public Management. ILI also offers
workplace language and cultural awareness training on-site at area businesses
and organizations, ESOL Teacher certificate courses (in collaboration with
Vermont's School for International Training) and other teacher training
programs, and a small international Intensive English program. It also provides
the language program at Hampshire College in Amherst.
The
Literacy Project
The Literacy
Project provides services to adult learners, ranging in age from 16 to 80 plus
within a 1,100-square-mile rural region of Western Massachusetts. Learners
include out-of-school youth; functionally illiterate, working poor men and
women; displaced workers on public assistance; physically, developmentally, and
educationally disadvantaged individuals.
Most TLP learners left high school without graduating to support
families, or because of family problems, illness, pregnancy, or conflicts with
the law. All learners want to improve skills, obtain employment, advance at
work, or more fully participate in the lives of their children and communities.
Most learners overcome serious, even daunting obstacles to access TLP services.
The
Literacy Project is a singular resource in this region of the state. It is the
only organization providing free adult education and literacy services designed
to address the total needs of the learner. It is the only adult education
program that integrates health education, leadership development, and peer
tutoring. It is unique in employing full-time teachers who offer a rich range
of education opportunities in indigenous community locations. Through learning
centers in Orange, Turners Falls, Greenfield, Northampton, Amherst, and Ware,
TLP offers classes in reading, writing, math, GED preparation, computers,
creative writing, science, and social studies.
(see
Appendix for list)
One of the first
tasks of the Coordinating Team was to determine the role the community
partnership would play in the assessment. It was suggested that the partners
would:
·
Represent constituencies
·
Provide the bigger picture
·
Help with the focus groups, interviews and data accumulation
·
Help set priorities: where and when?
In the early stages of the Franklin/Hampshire County
Community Planning Partnership, the Coordinating Team offered a vision in the
form of a question to the budding partnership:
What value
can a community planning project for Adult Education add to our communities?
At the first partnership meeting, guided by this vision
question, the 27 community members met in small groups and were able to name a
series of concerns around adult education in the communities where they work
and live, and determined what assessment activities should be given priority.
The assessment is a reflection of the choices made at that meeting. Their
initial questions are recorded here for archival purposes.
1. Who are the new
immigrants and refugees in our area?
2. Churches and
temples provide a lot of volunteer support, talk to them
3. What can we do to
assure our programs are known?
4. How can we better
serve out-of-school youth?
5. The people in the
rural areas don't fit the norm - the United Way have identified them
6. Ask the residents
what the gaps are
7. How can we ask
relevant questions, what approaches should we use?
8. How can youth and
adult organizations work better together?
9. How is MCAS going
to increase the # of adult learners?
10. What are the
circumstances that drive people to seek out these organizations
11. How can we better
reach our natural communities- turn some of our models on their heads? Can we get our clients to help us?
12. How can we have
meaningful data?
13. Specific communities we should be
reaching:
·
People with disablilies -those challenged with language
·
Latino elders
·
isolated youth
·
tenant organizations
·
juvenile offenders
·
youth in DSS care
·
those on the verge of welfare
·
people with learning disabilities
·
non-mainline churches
·
pregnant and parenting groups
·
what are employers seeing
·
who is being laid off
·
shelters and recovery programs
·
guidance counselors
·
migrant workers
The second partnership meeting was held on October 11,
2001 in Northampton (the first meeting was held in Greenfield). It was decided that the information gathered
at the first meeting would be used to identify discussion groups to share
ideas, frustrations, and wish lists for adult learners. The outcome of this meeting directly
impacted the structure of the assessment
which follows. Targeted populations, key informant interviews, focus
groups and access to secondary data all flowed directly from the working
groups. As data collection began, a new consultant was brought into the
process. After several meetings with the Coordinating Team and key members of
the community partnership, including a gathering of many members of the
corrections staff of the two counties instigated by Jane Brown, the working
group categories were modified. They
became:
·
Out-of-School and other Youth-At-Risk
·
Transitioning to Work and/or College
·
ESOL and other Populations Underserved by Adult Education
·
Corrections/Reintegration
Subsequent meetings of the larger partnership helped to
guide and refine the data. The final
meeting before the draft report was written took place on October 29,
2002. At that time the consultant
summarized the data that had been collected to that point and asked the
partners to help identify gaps. The
consultant then scheduled another series of interviews and focus groups,
perused recommended documents. A half dozen members of the Community Partnership agreed
to be readers of the first draft of the assessment report.
A. Compiling the secondary data
The Secondary Data for this report was compiled by the
consultant and by the staff of The Literacy Project from: the 2000Census, The
Pioneer Planning Commission And Economic Development District Comprehensive
Economic Development Strategy Annual Report, July 1, 2002, MASSStats, DETMA,
the Department of Education, The Massachusetts Literacy Consortium, the Massachusetts
Workforce Alliance: An Agenda for the Next Governer- 2003, the MISER and NELLIE
MAE Beyond 2000: Demographic Change, Education and the WorkForce,