What would you do if your program's public funding were severely cut, put on hold for years, or eliminated?

Program Managers,

Does the question in the title of this post sound drastic to you? All of these are possibilities; some have happened. For example, a few years ago adult schools and programs in California faced severe cuts and, in some cases, elimination of state and local public funding. It varied by school district, but after the governor removed a state budget earmark on adult education state funds (where the great majority of public funding has come from historically) some school districts, faced by other large state funding cuts, severely reduced or eliminated state and local public funding for adult education programs in their district. In another state, because the state budget has been on hold for more than a year, state funds for adult education are also on hold. For several states, and at the federal level, some pundits predict cuts, possibly severe ones, for adult basic education public funds. Of course, no one knows yet what the federal budget will be, and these predictions may be wrong, or advocacy from the field for adult basic skills education may cause Congress to modify what is proposed. It's hard to know.

Have you thought about how you would be able to provide adult learners with classes,  tutorials and other services if your funding were cut, or cut severely? Have you decided not to think about it? Have you explored alternative funding? Does your program already -- or does it plan to -- charge students tuition? Are you getting United Way or charitable foundation funds? Would corporate foundations support your work? Are you doing fundraisers like corporate spelling bees?

I know from a couple of emails I have received that these questions are on some program managers' minds. Would it be useful to discuss ideas for how to supplement program program funding, regardless of what lies ahead?  If so, let's hear your ideas. If you prefer to share them anonymously, email them to me and I'll share them here for you without attribution. Otherwise, just hit reply (if you are already logged in to LINCS) and share them in the LINCS Program Management CoP.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

Program Management CoP

djrosen123@gmail.com
 

Comments

Hi David, 

Illinois is entering it's 20th month without a state budget. Human resource services, public schools, correctional facilities, literacy programs, adult education programs, community colleges, and universities (and citizens) have all struggled under this burden. Many AE programs have been able to withstand the state budget impasse, while others had to shut their doors. While we are in a drastic situation, the reduction (and sometimes lack) of funding is of vital concern. I'd love to hear how programs are coping with the new financial realities we are facing together. Are programs consolidating? If so, what does that look like? 

Kathy 
@Kathy_Tracey 

Hi Kathy, and others from Illinois,

How exactly have adult basic skills programs in Illinois been able to "withstand the state budget impasse"? Are programs:

1) Consolidating?

2) Charging students tuition?

3) Raising more money through indiviodual donations?

4) Raising more money from corporations and foundations?

5) Other strategies?

Which strategies or efforts seem most productive?

 

David J. Rosen, Moderator

Program Management CoP

djrosen123@gmail.com

A couple of thoughts from the Adult Literacy Tutoring Program at the Waukegan Public Library:

Financial Side

On the financial side of things our Adult Literacy Tutoring Program had been supported almost entirely by the IL Secretary of State's Literacy Grants.  In FY 16, we operated the first 6 months of our program year not knowing if we'd receive that grant and then were awarded our full request.  We did not receive any state funds for our current FY 17.  The Library floated us to cover cashflow in FY 16.  The Library has also committed to covering staff benefits out of Library funds.  Being well-supported by the organization gave us time to figure things out when the crisis hit. 

Generous donations to the Waukegan Public Library Foundation and our local Literacy Volunteers of Lake County (who sadly dissolved last year) gave us a bit of a cushion.  The biggest thing for us was mostly luck though.  A former program tutor was working with a lawyer tasked with finding local educational organizations to receive $100,000 sums from a large will.  She connected him with us and we got that money.  That's not all luck though, the history of the program and its impact on that volunteer created that opportunity.  Any connection you make could be the difference.

Creating New Spaces For Buy-In

The Learning Gym pilot program we'll be starting this fall is in part a response to reduced resources.  We're hoping site-based programming will create a lot of program efficiencies for us.  But with respect to this survival theme, we hope this model will create opportunities for our volunteers to take on new roles and for community organizations to buy in more.  Volunteers at the site will be easier to rope into non-tutoring tasks like intake and assessment.  The big one though is that we can go to a local school, business, or non-profit and say, "Do you want to start a Learning Gym?"  We've got the resources, infrastructure and processes all ready to go to help you make a great learning opportunity happen for your people.  Can you help us create and maintain this community among your people?  As opposed to with the traditional literacy program model where we reach out to other organizations and say in effect, "Our program is important because of what we can do for your people," we hope we really won't have to say anything at all because they'll be involved enough to really know the impact of the work. 

There's still a lot of uncertainty, but we're trying to put ourselves in a position to be able to keep navigating it.  I'd love to hear other Illinois programs tell a bit of their stories here. 

Hello Josh,

You wrote: "A former program tutor was working with a lawyer tasked with finding local educational organizations to receive $100,000 sums from a large will.  She connected him with us and we got that money.  That's not all luck though, the history of the program and its impact on that volunteer created that opportunity.  Any connection you make could be the difference."

Thanks for sharing this. Cultivating and supporting individual donors, especially adult literacy volunteer tutors, has worked for many adult literacy organizations not only because they then have better tutors but because, as you point out, you never know what will happen when an adult learner is paired with a volunteer who happens to be a person of means, and who then sees an important way in which their wealth could be well-used.  I also wonder if others are as systematic as your program appears to have been, and if your program regularly reaches out to current and former volunteers to support its work and, if so how.

You also wrote: "The Learning Gym pilot program we'll be starting this fall is in part a response to reduced resources." Please tell us what a Learning Gym is and does.

Thanks so much for these great ideas. I think I see a theme here in both: "they'll be involved enough to really know the impact of the work."

I wonder if others have suggestions or experience in engaging community members, business or organized labor leaders sufficiently to understand and support the work of adult literacy or adult basic skills programs.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

Program Management CoP

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

Program Management Colleagues,

For many years cities and towns that are eligible for HUD Community Development Blog Grant (CDBG) funds have chosen, sometimes as a result of advocacy from adult basic skills advocates, to use CDBG funds for adult basic skills (including basic literacy, basic skills, adult secondary education and ESOL/ESL) Here's an article about a recent example of this for a literacy council in Grand Island, New York http://www.theindependent.com/news/local/literacy-council-receives-cdbg-to-expand-and-add-services/article_4f3cdb34-ffa4-11e6-9204-9b6200cb1d7a.html

Does your program receive CDBG funds? If so, tell us how this came about, how long you have accessed these funds and what programs or classes you are able to provide with them..

Since CDBG is funded through HUD, I wonder if any programs receiving these funds partner with housing developments that often have hard-wired Internet access for residents, sometimes computer labs that are state-of-the-art, but usually don't have funding to staff these computer centers, not even for a a volunteer coordinator. In some cases this may be a good partnership -- where the housing development provides the center space and equipment and the adult basic skills program provides the staffing -- between a housing development and an adult basic skills program. It can meet the needs of both organizations. Do you have experience with this? If so, please let us know about it here.

 

David J. Rosen, Moderator

Program Management CoP

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

 

Hello,

It's interesting that you shared this at this time.  We just submitted our application for WIOA AEFLA & IEL-CE funds.  We have a new partner for next year, a local housing authority.  They have the training rooms and nice equipment and no staff to offer skills development, career exploration and/or employment readiness skills training.  We're looking forward to working with this organization.  I would love to hear from others who are doing the same.  What has gone well?  What would you recommend? (Lessons learned?)

 

Thanks

Hi, Jessie -

I used to work for an organization here in the Metro Washington, DC area that focuses on just what you're working towards with your partner housing authority.  Community Preservation and Development Corporation (CPDC) has worked to bridge residents' housing, education, and career development needs for over 25 years.   This short video explains how the organization works.

Program Management Moderator, David Rosen, led a panel discussion with Lecester Johnson, the Executive Director of Academy of Hope Adult Public Charter School (AoH) last fall, which you can read about here.  AoH operates within mixed-income housing communities in and around D.C.  You may want to learn more about AoH and CPDC, and reach out to Lecester if you have more specific questions about setting up this partnership from the education-side of the house.

Good Luck!

Mike Cruse

Career Pathways Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com

I'm delighted to see the partnership w PHAs bubbling back up in the Community. A few years ago, LINCS hosted federal colleagues from HUD to talk about PHA's roles and resources to support career pathways for youth and adults. We had an excellent webinar and week-long discussion in the Program Management group, archived here

Since then, OCTAE has continued to partner with HUD and the Dept.of Energy at the federal level and have offered a monthly series of webinars for adult-serving organizations around energy literacy and STEM workforce development. Almost all of those webinars are archived in ppts at the bottom of this page of descriptions and as video here. Adult educators looking to create dynamic partnerships in their communities might be especially interested in #15 (STEM Learning Ecosystems), #17 (Digitally Engaged Communities), #20 (Leveraging Lifelong Learning (Libraries)), #21 (Learning STEM), and #24 (The Internet-based Economy). These webinars hosted PHAs or community-based organizations showcasing how they were implementing initiatives in their communities.

We will continue to promote the webinars as they get scheduled. Please keep the conversation going as to how you are partnering with other organizations in your communities!