What inspired you to become part of SAAEF?
Hey there. This is Dave Coleman. I'm the California fellow in the State Adult Ed Advocacy Fellowship for this cohort this year, and I want to share a few reflections on why I did what I did and and how I felt about it. First of all, I was inspired to join the SAAEF group because I wanted to deepen my knowledge and my skill base around adult ed advocacy so I could really serve the state of California, our educators, and our advocacy efforts in ways that were impactful, differentiated, and scaled. And I also wanted to use this opportunity to connect our educators at schools doing grassroots advocacy to the critical high level legislative relationship building and law crafting work that COABE and our adult organization in the state of California, the California Council for Adult Education, connecting those two groups from the bottom to the top and top down so that there was more value our members could see in what they're getting from the organization and how they can engage better and do the work as well. I also um wanted to share a couple things of my accomplishments this year. I think the biggest thing is whenever I was able to reach out to a legislator or their staffer, that was a huge get. That was a big win because it takes work to figure out who those people are, to get the communication going, and to make a conversation happen. So whenever that happened, that was a big deal. When we did our leg(islative) day last April, I spoke to about 15 different staffers and legislators, but it's really the work between those big events that is the big achievement for me. Couple of other things, I was able to do that I felt good about. One was to align our state's strategic advocacy plan with the federal one that was shared by template. So you know we're in alignment and using the great resources from COABE to help us at the state level. The second, I collaborated with our state organization leaders to lead a series of three advocacy training sessions called Becoming an Adult Ed Advocate: Growing from Fear to Fierce, which empowered scores of colleagues to build more powerful, creative, and inspired collaborative engagement. And finally, after some setbacks, I began using various social media formats and communication approaches to reach out to legislators, elected officials, and stakeholders. I became increasingly increasingly active in posting original and reposting shared advocacy messages and support opportunities on social media. I reached out via elected official websites to request proclamations and support for Adult Ed. And I crafted and submitted an op ed piece for the Los Angeles Times. Now, I learned a lot in all this, and not everything that I did got published or came full circle. But again, the knowledge and the confidence I got will help me try again and keep going, and help others do the same. And finally, I'd like to say a few things to the field. If you're thinking about becoming an advocate, if you're watching this, you probably have what it takes to become an advocate. You're already interested, you're curious, and you care. If you're still not sure, I encourage you to click around on the COABE advocacy web page, which is COABE.org/legislative-center. If you get excited and know that you can take action with these really great resources and being part of a wonderful community, you can be an advocate. Go for it. It will change your life and it will change education. Do it.
