NYCCAL is kicking off New York State advocacy for FY 2023 (April 1, 2022-March 31, 2023) with our annual State Advocacy Day on Monday,  February 28. 

Join State Advocacy Day by signing up for virtual meetings with elected officials and joining us on a social media push.

OUR MESSAGE:

• Students in adult education programs have been hit hard by the pandemic: many lost loved ones, jobs and incomes; others have continued sustaining our city as essential workers and parents; and many have been excluded from COVID-19 relief. 
• Since adult literacy providers shifted their classes online last year to protect the health of their community members, these programs continue to be a lifeline for students whose lives and communities have been upended by the pandemic and who need support as the city recovers. 
• NYCCAL thanks the Governor for including $7.8 million in the Executive budget to keep programs whole but more money must be invested in Adult Literacy Education (ALE) programs. 

OUR ASK: 
Invest an additional $15.6 million in FY23 to support the ALE Stabilization and Enhancement Fund to begin to stabilize and enhance ALE programs by increasing the rate per student, allowing providers to better serve the over 5,600 New Yorkers enrolled. This fund would supplement ALE contracts and increase investment in per-student funding in Adult Literacy Education. It will lead to strategic investments in resources, services, and supports, and will lead to greater outcomes and a wider range of impacts for adult literacy students, their families, and their communities. 

JOIN US:
To attend Zoom meetings, all participants (individuals and groups) must fill out the RSVP form and provide contact information by February 22. If you have program participants who want to join our legislative meetings, we welcome them to join us. Simply include their information in this form before February 22.

Meetings may be as short as 15 minutes (they will be scheduled for 30 minutes), and it is likely that not everyone will get to speak beyond introductions. We also anticipate fewer meetings per organization than previous in-person years. 

Lastly, we ask anyone who is interested in participating to keep your schedule flexible the week of Feb 28 and be prepared for last-minute scheduling changes. 

RSVP by 2/22 here for meetings.  Join us on Twitter and Instagram on February 28 by posting why adult education is important to you.  See our hashtags, sample messages, prompts, lists of elected officials, and more in our NYCCAL State Social Media Toolkit.
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​RESOURCES:
NYCCAL State Social Media Toolkit
NYCCAL FY23 State Advocacy One-Pager
State Advocacy Day #LiteracyLiftsNY Image

The Senate and Assembly both added money in their one-house budgets released earlier this week for Adult Literacy Education. The Senate essentially restored the $1.5 million added last year and the Assembly added $3 million.

​In order to keep pressure on the Senate and Assembly to continue to fight for this funding, we are asking programs to tweet a thank you to the Senate and Assembly as well as to our Senate and Assembly champions for their support. In the Senate, the champion is Jessica Ramos and in the Assembly, the champions are Yuh-Line Niou, Ron Kim and Pat Fahy. Following are sample tweets and twitter handles of the targets. Also tweet @NYSA_Majority and don't forget to mention NYCCAL @NYCCAL, and use our state hashtag #LiteracyLiftsNY.
 
Thank you @NYSenate for supporting Adult Literacy Education (ALE) in your one-house. We still need your support to help the 3.5 million New Yorkers (1/4 of our state's adult population) that need adult education. #LiteracyLiftsNY @NYCCAL
 
Thank you <@insertmembername> for championing Adult Literacy Education (ALE) in your one-house budget and fighting for the 3.5 million New Yorkers (1/4 of our state's adult population) that need adult education. #LiteracyLiftsNY @NYCCAL
 
Fill in with below names:
@jessicaramos
@rontkim
@Patriciafahy109
@yuhline
 
Feel free to come up with your own tweets as well. 

We're at the final push to get $12 million for Adult Education restored and baselined in the New York City Budget. 

The action for the next four Wednesdays is to post on Twitter and Instagram and make calls to your City Council Members.  Make sure to include the hashtag #LiteracyLiftsNYC and mention @NYCCAL in your posts on social media.  Below are some materials to help. 

Lesson Ideas/Materials

• Using Instagram for Advocacy
• NYC City Council Member Instagram Names
• Prompts for Social Media Photos
• #LiteracyLiftsNYC Twitter Directions
• Calling Your City Council Member