- Save the Date: The Big Share is March 2nd
- Winter Virtual Conference This Week!
- ProLiteracy's Workforce Atlas
- CDC's Easy to Read COVID Resources
- RACE - The Power of an Illusion
- Take Action! Tell Your State Legislators You Support Literacy
- Congratulations, LSW!
- Congratulations, LAWD - Library Congress State Literacy Award Winner
- Meet Christine from Buffalo-Pepin Literacy Alliance
- Member Spotlight: Buffalo-Pepin Literacy Alliance
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Save the Date: The Big Share is March 2nd |
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Join Wisconsin Literacy on March 2 and share your commitment to literacy during The Big Share, an online 24-hour day of giving hosted by Community Shares of Wisconsin, an organization leading efforts throughout Wisconsin to building an equitable and just community and protecting our environment..
Get involved!
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Hour of Power: (10:00-11:00 am) Give during this hour to double your donation with a match! Mark your calendar.
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Invite Your Friends: Watch us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and follow #CSWBigShare. Build the buzz by sharing Wisconsin Literacy updates, memes, and invitations to invest in literacy work!
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Become a Literacy Champion: Create your own fundraising page and share how literacy changes lives. Contact [email protected] for more information.
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Winter Virtual Conference This Week! |
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Register today and join us from the comfort of your own home or office. |
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Monday, February 1
- At age 104, founder of Literacy Volunteers of America and co-founder of ProLiteracy Ruth Colvin says, “Age is just a number. It’s what you do with your number that counts.” Start the week inspired, as you learn from Ruth’s story, over a hundred years in the making.
- This session will be recorded.
- Join us as Reggie Jackson, co-founder of Nurturing Diversity Partners, incorporates fun, interactive exercises to explore how our normal brains serve as effective pattern-making machines that unconsciously “prime” us for stereotyping – whether we intend it or not. We examine how the concept of race developed throughout US history and how this history and human tendency towards bias helped create and maintain today’s systemic racial inequities. We explore together how bias affects daily life, and whether something this difficult to perceive can ever be changed.
- This session will be recorded.
Tuesday, February 2
- Join us as Sylvia Ruiz, Executive Director of Primordial Multicultural Healing Community, integrates cultural priorities and mindfulness. We’ll explore some of the basic principles of mindfulness with care, curiosity and playfulness. Please bring a piece of fruit!
- This session will not be recorded.
1:00 - 2:00, Naturalization 101 with Maria Rodriguez and Paul Cloutier (USCIS Community Relations Officers)
- Maria del Carmen Rodriguez and Paul Cloutier, USCIS Community Relations Officers, will co-conduct the Naturalization 101 PowerPoint presentation, which includes an overview of the eligibility requirements for citizenship, the English-language and Civics examinations, as well as USCIS' online resources and study materials. They will also discuss the new 2020 Civics Test. There is a Q&A component.
- This session will not be recorded.
- It is essential for students to find meaning and make sense of math to engage in learning. Join us as Amy Cops, Instructor at Lakeshore Technical College, explores strategies, activities, and games that can be utilized with adult learners that relate to their daily lives. This session is for tutors, technical college instructors and literacy staff and will focus on basic math skills in a fun way.
- This session will be recorded.
Wednesday, February 3
- Join us as Scott Hodek, Section Chief of DWD Office of Economic Advisors, discusses current economic trends. Wisconsin's labor market was in the midst of an unprecedented talent crunch in 2019, with businesses doing everything they could to attract and retain talent. Then the pandemic hit, and Wisconsin lost almost 450,000 jobs in a single month. Learn about current conditions in today's volatile Covid-19 economy, the major workforce trends accelerated by the pandemic, and what the economy and labor market may look like post-pandemic.
- This session will be recorded.
- Join Mari Kay-Nabozny (CEO of the NW WI Workforce Investment Board) and Bruce Palzkill (Assistant Administrator of Division of Employment and Training with DWD) for a general overview of local job centers and Workforce Development Boards (WDBs). In addition to basic organizational structures, we will explore how WWDA and DWD differ and collaborate, and how local job centers and WDBs intersect.
- This session will be recorded.
Thursday, February 4
- Join Disabilities Support Services staff from Gateway Technical College and learn concrete strategies to ensure virtual instruction is accessible to all students and tutors, including those with special needs. We’ll look at use of color, text and font size, use of white space and even closed captioning. We’ll also review what the Americans with Disabilities Act means for literacy programming and virtual testing accommodations.
- This session will be recorded.
Friday, February 5
- Join us as Ann Brand, Mindfulness Instructor with The Center, explores why mindfulness is such a great practice for those in education and other roles where we support the growth and development of others. Our capacity to manage our stress, stay focused, and be kind and compassionate are central to working effectively with others. Tending to our own well-being is part of professional development. Our capacity to bring mindfulness practices into our work with others comes from practicing ourselves, so that is where we start.
- This session will not be recorded.
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Resources and Funding Opportunities |
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ProLiteracy's Workforce Atlas |
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Workforce Atlas is a free, online career pathways platform that assesses a person’s work interests and skills along with their literacy and numeracy proficiency levels.
After completing assessments, individuals are directed to recommended occupations, online resources, and local education providers that can help them achieve their professional and personal goals.
ProLiteracy designed Workforce Atlas for adults with low reading, numeracy, or English-language skills who need help finding employment or discovering a new career path. With so many community members currently unemployed due to COVID-19, this is a great resource to help adults reskill or upskill for employment success.
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CDC's Easy to Read COVID Resources |
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There are now Easy-to-Read COVID-19 Safety resources available on the CDC website, and ASL (American Sign Language) videos are also available on the CDC YouTube channel.
These resources are available thanks to the COVID-19 Accessible Materials and Culturally Relevant Messages for Individuals with Disabilities Project, led by Georgia Tech’s Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI).
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RACE - The Power of an Illusion |
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Excerpt from article:
Many middle-class white people, especially those of us from the suburbs, like to think that we got to where we are today by virtue of our merit - hard work, intelligence, pluck, and maybe a little luck. And while we may be sympathetic to the plight of others, we close down when we hear the words "affirmative action" or "racial preferences." We worked hard, we made it on our own, the thinking goes, why don't 'they'? After all, the Civil Rights Act was enacted almost 40 years ago.
What we don't readily acknowledge is that racial preferences have a long, institutional history in this country - a white history. Here are a few ways in which government programs and practices have channeled wealth and opportunities to white people at the expense of others.
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Take Action!
Tell Your State Legislators You Support Literacy
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Wisconsin government leaders and legislators will meet to discuss the state budget. The budget is tighter than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We must engage policymakers to make funding literacy a priority. We will continue talking with Gov. Evers, Lt. Gov. Barnes, state legislators, and local governments about the importance of literacy and their commitment to support it.
We are counting on YOU to lend your voice to this critical issue as well.
Please take a moment to write to your state legislators telling them to continue supporting community-based literacy statewide.
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LSW was one of only four adult education providers from the entire nation to be recognized for developing an innovative practice in the inaugural Advancing Innovation in Adult Education project presented by the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, a division of the U.S. Department of Education. The award recognized their growing partnership with the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership Building Industry Group Skilled Trades Employment Program (WRTP/BIG STEP).
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Congratulations, LAWD!
Library Congress State Literacy Award Winner
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The Latino Academy of Workforce Development (LAWD) received the 2021 Library of Congress State Literacy Award. Through the generosity of David M. Rubenstein, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards recognize and support organizations that have made outstanding and innovative contributions promoting literacy and reading in the local community or state.
The Literacy Awards program encourages the continuing development of innovative methods and is intended to draw public attention to the importance of literacy.
Congratulations, LAWD!
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Meet Christine from Buffalo-Pepin Literacy Alliance |
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Christine always wanted to gain skills to advance herself. When her work closed down during the pandemic, she seized that opportunity to improve herself at Buffalo-Pepin Literacy Alliance.
She missed a lot of information during school because she didn't have hearing aids. Now, she's working on her writing and speech and gaining more self-confidence.
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Member Spotlight:
Buffalo-Pepin Literacy Alliance
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Buffalo-Pepin Literacy Alliance's "Do Good," positive attitude during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in growth of both volunteers and learners.
This rural literacy agency, formerly entirely in person, now has a virtual, digital learning option that will help parents now and help close geographic barriers and serve more people in the future.
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Please send news you want to share to [email protected] so we can include it in the March 2021 e-news.
Thank you for your support!
Wisconsin Literacy is a proud member of:
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211 S. Paterson St., Suite 170, Madison, WI 53703
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