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Literacy Cabinet Called To Action NEW BEDFORD – More than 25 local business, education, and civic leaders attended the Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board, Inc. (WIB) LiteracyWorks Cabinet meeting on Thursday at the Wamsutta Country Club. Jean Fox, LiteracyWorks Entrepreneur, explained, “The Cabinet is comprised of high-level representatives from both for-profit and non-profit businesses that have a real desire to positively impact the literacy problems in our area.” Guest presenters included Mayor Scott Lang, Robert Schwarz – Executive Vice President of Peter Pan Bus Lines, J. William Ward - Executive Director of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, and Annemarie Pereira Sawyer – Coordinator of the Family Center Adult Education and Early Literacy Program. Charles Simpson, WIB Chair and President/CEO of First Citizens' Federal Credit Union opened the meeting, citing some sobering facts and statistics about the current state of literacy in our region. Some 42% of New Bedford Residents 25 and older have no high school diploma compared with 15% in the state. The graduation rate in New Bedford is around 56% compared with 80% in the state, and nearly 20% of New Bedford area residents are foreign born, compared with a Massachusetts average of 12%. About 38% speak a language other than English compared with only 19% in the state,” he said. He went on to say, “The LiteracyWorks initiative is the direct result to the Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board’s response to a call to action targeting these numbers. The theme of today’s meeting is a call to action for area businesses to step up and meet the challenges head-on.” Interim Cabinet Chair and New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce President Roy Nascimento echoed Simpson’s comments and praised the group for coming out to begin building momentum for LiteracyWorks. Annemarie Pereira Sawyer opened by saying how grateful she was for the help she received from the LiteracyWorks Entrepreneur in developing a successful proposal that brought in an additional $43,000 from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts/Polaroid Fund. “We were really struggling when our Even-Start funding was pulled. These new dollars will add another ESOL class and expand our Early Literacy programming. We’ll be able to serve many more families.” J. William Ward, advised the members that they, particularly for-profits, have more power than they think to influence legislation. “The key,” he said, “is to develop a plan.” But to develop a plan, it’s critical that businesses actually visit the local providers. He said, “Get out there and see what these programs are doing.” Once the business leaders learn what the programs do, they are better able to champion the need and rally resources at the state level through the legislature.” LiteracyWorks began in Hampden County five years ago. Since then, the Cabinet has become the “go-to” entity for foundations seeking to fund solid, productive literacy programs. Over this time, they have seen foundation funding for literacy increase by $200,000. “This is an economic development issue,” Ward added. “Twenty years ago, literacy did not affect economic and workforce development as it does today. Now there are 130,000 vacancies in the state, and the only way to fill them is to grow your own.” Challenged with the growing need for English within his own company, Robert Schwarz remarked, “Peter Pan also owns hotels. We had employees that couldn’t tell the difference between Lysol® and Listerine®. We were not only faced with employees that couldn’t speak English, but their children couldn’t speak it either. With our own efforts, we have proof that if education is not successful, these children drop out of school, go to jail, and become homeless. The social implications are huge.” Now, Peter Pan is funding a $1million Family Literacy Center in its inter-modal facility in Holyoke. Schwarz went on to praise Tony Sapienza, President and COO of Joseph Abboud Manufacturing, for his personal commitment to literacy and his continued interaction with the Mayor and Legislature pushing for our fair share of funding, and stating, “The business community must stand up.” Ward recommended the Cabinet take a strong stance on how state dollars are allocated to different regions. Len Coriaty, WIB Executive Director, added that like Springfield, New Bedford does not receive an equal distribution of the funds. UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean McCormack noted that even the University sees unequal resource allocation and that we should look at new funding in a different way. So, what are the next steps for the Cabinet? Sapienza suggested, “First, we demand the best worker training and adult basic education and show that it’s a good investment. We must build a constituency to get more funding and promote ESOL in the workplace and work with LiteracyWorks to ensure this is successful. “ He added, “This will give us the ammunition we need to be the voice of literacy in New Bedford and effective with the legislature.” Fox said there are numerous returns on investment for workplace-based programs. Education can be touted as a benefit to employees, plus there are many benefits to employers. “A more educated workforce improves the bottom line. It facilitates promotion from within. It improves retention and increases on-the-job efficiency. It improves worker safety and health and elevates the employees’ ability to participate in cross-functional teams,” she said. Fox added that she is available to businesses to help obtain funding to support these programs. Rep. Robert Koczera, long-standing advocate for workforce development in the region and a twelve-year member of the Adult Basic Education Advisory Committee in New Bedford, noted that in 1998, the state spent as much or more on adult literacy. He said, “Business investment is critical.” He explained that he was part of a local delegation that recently accompanied Mayor Lang to meet with the House Chairman of Ways and Means in Boston. Koczera praised Mayor Lang for citing summer jobs, gang violence and expansion of the Bristol Community College Campus in New Bedford as critical focal points at that meeting. Mayor Lang closed by saying,” We have the finest trainable workforce in the state. We need to coordinate our efforts, get an overview (what dollars are available and actually coming in) and pursue additional funding together. I’ve said it all along. My ten-year plan is to target second graders. If you’re talking about a 13-year plan, it’s the four year olds.” The next Literacy Cabinet meeting is scheduled for early spring. The date is yet to be announced. LiteracyWorks is funded in part with grants from Commonwealth Corporation, the Boston Foundation/Polaroid Fund, and the City of New Bedford. If you or someone you know would like to participate in the LiteracyWorks Initiative, please contact Jean Fox at 508-979-1712 or email JFox@gnbwib.org. 227 Union Street, Suite 206, New Bedford, MA 02740-5946 PH 508.979.1504 • FAX 508.979.5680 E-mail: Webmaster@gnbwib.org |