First San Diego Adult Learner Conference

The First San Diego Adult Learner Conference: A Bridge to the Future was held on Saturday, May 17, 1997 at Hilltop High School, Chula Vista, CA. Approximately 170 adults attended, representing 29 agencies. Proclamations of May 17th as Adult Learner Day were awarded by the Cities of San Diego, National City and Chula Vista, as well as by the County of San Diego.

The keynote speaker was Kevin Nolan, a learner from the Carlsbad City Library Adult Literacy Services. He is the author of a book entitled "Beyond Fear and Pride", a contemporary allegory about learning to read....by someone who has been there.

Following the General Session were three sessions of workshops: learners had six choices for each of the time slots. Some very popular workshops were: Goal Setting, Introduction to Windows, How Welfare Changes will Affect You, Public Speaking Basics, Self Esteem Techniques, Steps to get Your GED, Job Interview Skills, and Learn How You Learn Best.

At the Closing Session, statewide learner and program awards from the California State Collaborative Literacy Council were presented:

Outstanding Learner Awards

First Place

Honorable Mention ABE

Exemplary Program Awards

First Place Classroom Based Sweetwater ABE Program

First Place (tie) Community Based Chula Vista Literacy Team Read/ San Diego

Third Place Special Populations R.J. Donovan Correctional Literacy Lab

Honorable Mention Classroom Based Carson Literacy Center/SDCCD/ReadSD

At the Closing Session, an "open mike" time allowed participants to share what surprised them about the Conference, what they learned and what next steps they plan to take.

Special guests included:

Dr. Edward Brand, Superintendent of SUHSD Greg Cox, County Supervisor
Brian Bilbray, Congressman
Jerry Rindone, Asst Superintendent and City Councilman
Dr. Ted Zimmerman, CDE
Dr. Carole Talan, Executive Director of SLRC

The Planning Committee included learners from six literacy programs, the Director and the Marketing Associate from the San Diego Council on Literacy, the Regional Manager of the Sweetwater State Literacy Regional Center, and several Vista Volunteers with local library literacy programs. Of the eight core learners who led the planning effort, six had attended the Statewide Conference in March ď96. The conference was truly a leadership activity for those learners involved in its implementation. A follow up dinner meeting of the committee will be held on June 5, 1997 to evaluate and plan for the future.