September 19-25 is National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week!

Literacy Action Network and the Adult Education Team at the Minnesota Department of Education are happy to announce that the week of September 19-25, 2021, is National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. Adult Education is an underrecognized education system that fills unique needs, especially for people who have not successfully been served in other systems.

Each year, Minnesota Adult Education serves an estimated 50,000 individuals both virtually and at more than 300 sites around the state. More than 80% of adults served identify as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or two or more races. Each adult education program in Minnesota is part of one of 39 adult education consortia. Every school district is a member of an adult education consortium; community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and county and state correctional facilities are also members of our adult education consortia. Adult education classes can also be found in postsecondary institutions, CareerForce Centers, workplaces, libraries, and other community sites.

Here are some ways you can celebrate Adult Education and Family Literacy Week:

• Join Literacy Action Network, Minnesota’s adult education member organization, and you will also become a member of COABE (Coalition on Adult Basic Education), the national adult education membership organization.
• Check out #IAMABE via social media (https://sites.google.com/view/iamabe).
• Explore the COABE website for national events and resources available to you and your program (https://coabe.org/national-adult-education-and-family-literacy-week/).
• Embed some of COABE’s infographics that promote adult education in the messages you send to promote adult education (http://coabe.org/social-media-messaging-center).
• Highlight your adult education program via social media. (According to COABE, Facebook has the highest return on investment.)
• Promote your programs with community partners and officials at the local and state level.
• Share in Mighty Networks what your program is doing to celebrate this week!

Thank you for being adult educators! No matter what role you serve in our system, you make an important difference for adult learners. Your work helps adults gain the skills they need to be more successful in careers with family-sustaining wages. Your work helps parents be confident as their children’s first educators. Your work helps adults adjust and more fully engage in our communities in Minnesota. You help make Minnesota more inclusive, stronger, and an even better place to live!