Join us on Facebook Since spring, our focus has been on getting the word out to community colleges about how students can benefit by learning about their legal rights and responsibilities at the same time they are learning to read and speak English. Every student needs to know how to rent a home, what to do if they have a problem with their boss, or how to handle an interaction with law enforcement. It is so gratifying to hear that ELL students are using our materials to be more successful in their everyday lives.
As we networked our way around the amazingly inspiring community college systems, we learned about HACU - the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. And some kind of partnership seemed like a natural fit. So, in May we left the gloomy spring weather of Seattle and headed to San Antonio, where we discovered that the sun does still actually exist. (And where they have REALLY good Mexican food!)
The executive team at HACU welcomed us warmly and we had a very lively discussion about how important it is for Hispanic students to have access to educational materials that will teach them about their basic legal rights. To that end, Civil Survival and HACU have formed an exciting partnership. Our joint goal is to get the word out to the 450 HACU member institutions that Civil Survival is standing by with content rich ELL materials designed to teach their students how to be as successful as possible as they embark on their new lives.
As a result of this partnership, Civil Survival has added three new embers to our team: Anita Muriel of San Antonio, Sergio Rojas of Los Angeles, and Jim Frenchak of Maryland. Anita, Sergio and Jim understand the cultural challenges of integrating into the U.S. They are very excited to begin calling on the HACU institutions to introduce Civil Survival and demonstrate how it can benefit their ELL students and workforce training students as well as those in accredited programs.
On the weekend of September 18th, Our team will be at the 24th Annual HACU Conference in San Diego, California. We will be available to meet with representatives of any HACU institution who wants to learn more about how Civil Survival can be used in ELL classes and workforce education programs.
We are really looking forward to hearing from our new friends at HACU institutions to learn how their students are benefiting from Civil Survival. As many of you know, we officially launched the Civil Survival Series into the Community College market at the AACC convention in Seattle this spring. And since then, things have really been popping! We have learned so much from all of you and very much appreciate all of the ideas about how we can provide legal education to individuals who read at a low literacy level. One of the main reasons I wrote this series is so that people who do not have access to a lawyer can learn some of the basics of our legal system.
Imagine teaching your ELL students using content rich material written at a fifth grade level. As they learn English, they will also be learning their rights as a tenant, or their rights as an employee. Single mothers learn English at the same time they learn about how to access the legal system to obtain child support. And perhaps most importantly, all students begin to gain an understanding of their constitutional rights.
One example of how the Civil Survival Series helped an ELL student really stands out. The student was from a Middle Eastern country. In his home country, when someone is stopped by the police, the custom is to get out of the car and approach the officer’s car. Picture what would happen here: An officer pulls over a young man of Middle Eastern descent and the man immediately gets out of his car and quickly approaches the officer. Nothing good will likely come from this. Something as simple as learning how to interface with the police here in the US can go a long way toward minimizing unnecessary confrontations with law enforcement. This is what we teach here at Civil Survival.
At the AACC conference we hosted a dinner for a number of deans and chancellors. During dinner, we held a lively discussion in which we learned from our new friends about how many students are flocking to non-accredited classes. I discovered, for example, that in the Orange County Community College system, there are 36,000 students in the non-accredited program. It is so exciting to know that many these individuals may soon have access to the Civil Survival Series so that they can learn their basic legal rights as they learn English as they fine tune their executive functioning skills.
I am convinced that teaching people the basics of our legal system, will lead to more community involvement, which will, in turn benefit not just the students, but their children and their entire community.
As always, we are looking forward to hearing more from you about creative uses for the Civil Survival Series.
A few weeks ago, Team Civil Survival ventured to DC where we discovered some kindred spirits at theDepartment of Education. I’d like to publically thank Christopher Coro, Acting Team Leader of the Best Practices and Dissemination team and Innovation and Improvement team, at The Office of Adult and Vocational Education.
The reception we received from Chris gave me a new appreciation for the term public servant. Chris really, really cares about adult learners. He was warm, engaging and clearly interested in how Civil Survival could make a difference in the lives of students. As a former ESL teacher, he immediately “got” the concept and mission of Civil Survival, and from there we were off and running!
We met with members from both of Chris’ teams, including Education Program Specialist, Diane McCauley, Ph.D., who has a background in Juvenile Justice; Education Program Specialist Tanya Shuy, M.Ed., who is a former Special Education teacher; and Education Program Specialist Jo Moralit, M.Ed., who is a former 3rd grade teacher.
What an inspiration it was to realize these folks' commitment to excellence in the educational process. In a matter of minutes the entire group delved into a creative dialogue about the ways the Civil Survival content could help individuals struggling with literacy and executive functioning, as well as just plain knowing how to navigate daily challenges. The ideas flew by so fast, I could barely keep up.
We spent over an hour brainstorming different ways educators could use Civil Survival, and how they could find the funding to support those efforts. Here’s what I learned about areas where Civil Survival could help educators (some of which we had thought of and many of which had never crossed our minds): - In Adult Basic Education
- In Non-Accredited ESL programs
- As ESL instruction material for non-native speakers
- As a resource for new immigrants in re - settlement agencies
- As material for migrant education
- To teach EL civics
- As a supplement to social studies and civics to teach a basic understanding of how the legal system really affects individuals
- To teach self-advocacy for special education programs helping individuals with learning disabilities
- For correctional and correctional reentry education programs
- For workforce training and preparation, including administration of justice, paralegal, and entrepreneurial programs
- For GED preparation
- For youth employment programs
- As character development program material for at-risk youth.
- For family literacy projects
- To teach vocabulary: comprehension, fluency and cross disciplinary vocabulary
- To teach writing skills
- To teach critical thinking
- For peer instruction in group learning settings
As you can see, the folks at OVAE helped us see how Civil Survival could help learners across the educational spectrum. I’m not sure what I expected to happen at our meeting, but I don’t think I expected to find such a compassionate group of professionals who took such a personal interest in how we can get our materials out to students who need the skill set that we offer.
I’m curious: Do you have an idea about how our content could be used in a new and creative way? If so, please email me at Amanda@civilsurvival.com and we will add your ideas to our blog as we receive them. There is an exciting synergy developing and we are anxious to discover the new and innovative ways you are using our content to help your students. We have so much exciting news here at Civil Survival! I don’t even know where to start. It turns out that the Civil Survival content supports the goal for the Obama administration's revisions to the Workforce Initiative Act, so if you have WIA funds and are looking to provide any of the following basic skills, please let us know how we can help: - Workforce Development
- Non-accredited ABE
- Non-accredited Life Skills
- Non-accredited ESL
We can also help out with:
- Civics
- EL Civics
- Corrections Reentry Education
under current federally funded grant opportunities.
We are very excited to be partnering with the East Los Angeles Community College system and are currently working with them to see how many programs we can help with. Since our materials are supplemental and very easy to read and understand, the students are using them to learn English and learn the life skills they need to help them become a world class workforce.
In addition to the traditional classes currently being offered in learning institutions, the Civil Survival content is being used in “best practices” collaborative learning situations. For example, students are able to observe teachers model learning behavior as together they work their way through content, that although easy to understand, covers subjects that may be new to the teachers. Teachers are able to model problem solving and critical thinking skills as they discover legal terms or concepts that may have been previously unfamiliar to them. This takes the teachers and students on an interesting and relevant learning adventure together.
We are also very excited to be partnering with South Seattle Community College in their successful Life-Skills-To-Work reentry program which serves people coming out of prison and transitioning back into community and job life. The program at South Seattle is highly successful and the students who complete the program go on to careers instead of going back to prison.
Stay tuned to discover what’s next for Civil Survival. And if you think we can help clients at your organization or institution, please contact us. We are here to provide as much support as possible so everyone can realize the promise of our Constitution: life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Something must be done about the growing opportunity gap that exists in our educational system. I think we ought to teach every middle-school, high school, and community college student something practical; like their basic legal rights and responsibilities—just as we should teach them how to use a checkbook and credit card—so that all students graduate from high schools and community colleges as capable individuals.
After all, how on earth can we expect our students to achieve success when we don't bother to teach them basic life skills such as how to rent an apartment, or what to do if they need to apply for child support? And what about teaching the future employees of America some basics about their rights in the workplace? It seems pretty simple to me.
Right now, in Washington State for example, 86% of the students enrolled in adult basic education are there to learn the skills they need to get and keep a good job. So, why are we not providing legal education content to them that will allow them to succeed in life? Not only does basic legal education provide the practical skills that students need to thrive, it also provides students a way of thinking through complex situations that leads to effective decision-making, leadership, and civic engagement. I want high school and community college students, of all ages and socioeconomic circumstances, to know the rules of the game here in the US.
Clearly, communities will thrive if the playing field is leveled by teaching our students something as basic as accessible legal education. But what little legal education is available to students is offered as an elective (mostly under the guise of business law). Legal education belongs squarely in social science classes, civics, and history. Our nation was founded on the rule of law, and we should educate our students accordingly.
We here at the Civil Survival Project are committed to our vision of making sure every single student graduates knowing his or her legal rights and responsibilities. We very much look forward to partnering with any and every program who shares this vision. It is a very big, and a very important job.
Welcome! I knew I might be on the right track with the Civil Survival Project a couple of years ago when I received a call from a teacher who was testing our materials at a community college near the New Mexico / Mexico border. The class was an ESL class and the teacher had, creatively, decided to use our materials as the basis for an oral presentation.
Each student was assigned the task of reading some section of Civil Survival and to present to the class what he or she had learned. The teacher described his experience in the classroom that night as surreal. As I recall the conversation, it went something like this:
...“I teach ESL students who work very long hours at demanding jobs. They come to class three nights a week, and are really trying hard to learn English, which they are doing beautifully. The students who make it to the highest level of ESL are a very determined lot.
“The last night of class they gave their presentations which were based on the Civil Survival materials. The first student, a young man in his early thirties, walked nervously up to the front of the class. He explained that he had broken his wrist on the job and was scared and worried that he could no longer provide for his family. He and his wife and toddler were sure they were about to be evicted, as they had missed their first rent payment ever. He went on to explain to the class that he learned from the Civil Survival materials that he was entitled to apply for worker’s comp since the injury had happened on the job. The guy fought to hold back tears as he reported to his classmates (who were also getting teary) that he had the right to the compensation until his wrist healed and he could get back to work. He couldn’t believe it. He was so happy.
“Then the next student, a middle-age woman, got up and presented her findings to the class: Her husband had moved out of the family home, an old trailer in a mobile home park. She was left with several children to raise alone. After reading the family law section in Civil Survival she recognized her right to seek child support, and maybe even alimony, from her husband. She had no idea child support or alimony even existed. And again the class shared in her emotions.” The ESL teacher said it was the first time he had taught a class where he saw his students become empowered in life skills during an ESL lesson.
Well, it’s a few years later, and what was once a dream of mine has finally come to fruition. It looks like Napoleon Hill was right, persistence pays off! I now have the first five books and workbooks of the Civil Survival, Your Rights Series set to launch and I am very excited to share them with you.
After practicing law for twenty plus years, it has become crystal clear to me that we desperately need to teach all of our citizens how our legal system works. I can’t say that I understand how we managed to create an educational system that for the most part completely ignores the fact that we all need to learn about everyday issues, like what are my rights when I am renting a home? What should I do if I get into a car accident? How do I get child support? How will my property be split in a divorce? What are my rights at work? What are my rights if I get arrested?
Several years ago, I gave a tremendous amount of thought about what I could give back. I’d been giving a substantial amount of time and money to various organizations. I’d raised tens of thousands of dollars for our local hospital, our community schools, and my daughter’s private school. I was a wiz at fundraising. I was on lots of boards. But none of those endeavors felt very unique. I wanted to do something different; something that I could do with my own skill set. It occurred to me that what I have to offer is the gift of knowledge. I’ve been blessed to have received a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a law degree. I’ve learned a lot and I am hoping to be able to simplify some complex ideas so that everyone, especially those who may have challenges with reading or understanding English, can realize the promise of our Constitution: Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
I really look forward to hearing from all of you who use our materials. At Civil Survival, we see our mission as a work in process. We hope that you join our team so that together we can get these books into the hands of as many people as possible. Welcome to Civil Survival! |
