Oregon
From LiteracyTentWiki
Provided by Oregon Literacy, March 10, 2005
- Congressman Wu attended an event in the Oregon Literacy office bookstore recently. Among other items, he spoke about the "unwise" proposed budget cuts. Many of our VIP partners were in attendance at this event, including some from universities, libraries and "big business".
- Oregon Literacy is in touch with other politicians' offices and will continue to pursue inroads and attempt to secure an overt advocacy stance from any and all of note.
- Newsletters will be sent out today. Our circulation is near 1,000 for these 12 page items. We have inserted a 4-page special "advocacy bulletin" which keys on the cuts and urges action. We will also be distributing these newsletters to political offices around the state.
- About 500 emails (see a sample below) have been sent out to internal email addresses, which are would-be supporters. This includes a large number of the literacy programs throughout Oregon.
- A "how to help" packet is now available on our website's homepage: www.oregonliteracy.org. Options include, but are not limited to, signing an electronic petition, printing out pre-made letters which can be mailed to representatives, requesting pre-made postcards for students to send, and researching literacy and budget statistics. We have "how to help" pathways for both individual citizens and literacy programs alike.
Of course, we will continue to enhance and re-emphasize existing efforts while also seeking to create new ones. More phone calls, emails, etc. will certainly be part of the mix.
Jon Toorock Oregon Literacy
Friend of literacy,
Literacy in Oregon needs your support more than ever at this time. As you may have heard, the federal government has proposed huge budget cuts that will devastate - or even eliminate - some literacy programs in your area. The proposed cuts total almost $370 million dollars, a 66% decrease from present program funding.
The time to act is now.
Our government must be notified presently that people in our communities care enough about these essential local literacy programs to not let these proposed cuts materialize. Please click the "literacy alert" banner on our homepage - www.oregonliteracy.org - and help Oregon Literacy make our collective voices be heard. You can read statistics about the cuts, send a pre-made letter to your representative and even sign an electronic petition. It is quick, free and easy!
Please do not hesitate to forward this email to as many people as possible. If you would like to help further please let me know. I am happy to answer any questions which may arise regarding this important issue.
Thank you very much,
Jon
Jonathan Toorock Director of Community Development Oregon Literacy, Inc. -- Advancing literacy through access, advocacy and alliances. www.OregonLiteracy.org jon@oregonliteracy.org
