The following are excerpts from pre/post interviews with adult learners and site coordinators from the three case study locations: Sacramento, Berkeley and Baldwin Park.
Sacramento - Fremont Adult SchoolThe Fremont Adult School is in downtown Sacramento, about a half mile from the State Capitol. Most students are 18 to 35, with an ethnic mix that emphasizes Hispanics and various Asian groups, with some Anglo and African American students as well. Participants in the study were from two different classes -- one, a government and economics class and the other a basic GED class. Several of the students were relatively new citizens, or studying to get their citizenship. Usually, the students tend to work on individual projects in their classrooms. About 65 students from the two classes were brought together in the school cafeteria to participate in a forum on September 26th about jobs. Most of the same students and some new ones attended the Key to Community voting workshop in the same location the following week on October 2nd.
One-on-one interviews were conducted with eight students who represented a range of voting experience and background with community involvement. In this location, the interview with the site coordinator was supplemented by interviews with instructors of the two classes.
A 25-year-old Latina who has been married for a year said she has never voted before. "I haven't really heard about how to vote. No one in my household has ever really voted." As a result of the Key to Community workshop she voted for the first time in the November 5th election, "because of that meeting at school...the workshop showed me that one vote can make a difference." She noted, "It was really simple. All this time I thought it was something that was going to be really hard." She said, "I didn't know where to get the information. If you didn't have that class, I probably wouldn't have gone." In addition to making her feel comfortable with the voting process, the issues forum also increased her confidence to pursue a community involvement idea. This young woman does not have children but is very interested in problems her siblings and friends have with local daycare. Although the forum was about jobs, a particular comment about daycare has led this young woman to start brainstorming with peers about ways to help. As a final comment on how it felt to be a first time voter, "I'm really impressed with myself." She has an aunt who had been upset when she didn't vote in the last major election. She said that as soon as she voted, she wanted to call her aunt and say, "I did it!"
Another young women who was just 19 years old had already registered to vote for the last election but "didn't end up feeling ready to vote." She voted for the first time on November 5 and said it was easy to get ready for the election because of the information that she received in class. In the workshop she liked that "we all got together and said what we thought. It's a way to find out that other people think differently that you." She also especially liked the Easy Reader Voter Guide because "us young voters need help...it's something we can understand more."
A Laotian gentleman, who had just become a citizen, voted for the first time in the November 5 election. He said he was "nervous and unsure about how to vote." He said the voting workshop and class and Easy Reader Voter Guide helped him get prepared. He was especially impressed to find "how there were so many different parties to choose from."
A 42-year-old white male, who is married with children, has been a voter since he got married. "When I was younger, I didn't care before...getting older and maturing made me realize that it has to start somewhere." On the other hand, he is not very involved in community activities because "you have to show some initiative to get involved and I don't have time." He doesn't participate in community dialogue because "I feel a lot of people don't care what you think. I don't usually express myself unless they ask. It's a bummer. People are getting cold." He attended the issues forum and liked it. He went to see what they had to say and "the lady sounded like she really wanted to hear our opinions. And I wanted to go in case I had something I wanted to say. I listened more than I participated but people had a lot of good ideas." At the voting workshop the following week, he went to see if he could get more information and "to make sure I knew what was going on." He learned that there are more than just the Democratic and Republican parties and "when I learned what they all stood for, it made me want to change my party because another one was more in line with what I think." He felt that the workshop was really informative and "I brought a lot of the information back to my wife. She has always refused to vote and I used the information to help talk my wife into voting and also got several friends to vote." What he liked about the workshop was that it gave really specific information and the Easy Reader Voter Guide. He said in the past, "I had to re-read things, it seemed complicated and confusing. This year seemed easier."
A 44-year-old Asian woman started voting one year after she became a citizen. She had waited a little because she needed to get up her courage because her English isn't very good and when she went to the polls she didn't know what they were talking about and wasn't sure what to vote for. She talks to her neighbors, "we have a small community and we talk about how to make the place cleaner, safer. We have meetings and informally bump into our neighbors and talk." On the other hand she says she doesn't want to speak in public. "If I see something wrong, I will try to help but I don't want to speak in public because my English is not good." She attended the issues forum and school "only because the teacher asked us to go. I didn't want to go because I didn't know what was going on but I liked it." As a result of the forum she learned that she "has a chance to learn how others think, their point of view and that is very important because then you know the other people better and then know how to deal with them." Although she continues to be nervous about her English language skills, she agreed that attending a forum "turned out okay." She contributed several comments to the issues discussion.
A 29-year-old Anglo male votes in most elections because he wants "to express my opinion...I don't want others to have say-so for me." On the other hand he is not involved in community activities because "it takes too much time." He attended the issues forum but not the voting workshop. At the forum he was a very active participant speaking up during each of the three choices. He was skeptical about the value of the forum. "Besides a few things said by me and one other lady, it was pretty boring." He said, "although I got a chance to say what I wanted to say, basically I didn't learn anything." On the other hand, because of his participation in the forum, he helped flesh out different perspectives on the issues for the other participants.
A teen male who had recently turned 18 had marked on the screener that he was registered. In the interview it became clear that he did not understand the concept of having to register to vote, "If you're 18, aren't you just eligible to vote?" This young man was disinterested, uninvolved, and doesn't get together with family or friends to talk about issues. He attended the issues forum and "just listened." He recalled that the voting workshop the following week "taught us how to go and vote and demonstrated what to say and how to register." As a result of the voting workshop, he did register to vote. He did not choose to vote on election day because "I just didn't pay attention." On the other hand he was able to recall some of the propositions. While the impact of the project on this young man appears limited, it did fill in a major information gap, and he may choose to act on this new information at a later time.
Similarly, a young African-American teen had not registered to vote even though he is 19. He is not registered because "I never thought it mattered. I never thought my vote would count." This young man says he "has never seen anyone in my community trying to do anything. I'm not active or involved. I'm just an everyday person." This young man attended the issues forum "planning not to listen." Nonetheless, he did add a comment during the third choice. At the voting workshop the following week, he helped pass out registration forms and filled one out himself. The limited impact of the Key to Community Project on his behavior may tie to his particular life stage of being a young, single male and also his self-imposed isolation.
Trish Kerns, the Sacramento-based State Literacy Regional Resource director who helped select the Fremont Adult School location reported that the impact of the Key to Community Project at this location was:
Trish saw that the forum and workshop had two very distinct roles. As mentioned, the Forum was the catalyst to give people a chance to see the connection between issues and their own lives. The Voting Workshop is the chance to get the hands-on information about a specific next step that they can take. Following on this, Trish especially commended the Easy Reader Voter Guide because it was able to reach such a broad group of people even beyond those who participated in the Key to Community Forum and Workshop. Her suggestion was that the Voter Guide be expanded to cover local measures and races. Trish said she would definitely sponsor and promote future forums and workshops because "a lot of others would enjoy both the workshop and issues forum."
The instructor of the participating GED class said the project increased the students' awareness of the value of voting. She was impressed with the amount of participation at the forum. She noted that her students are "ready to talk. They have opinions and want to express them" -- but to actually get them to speak out in such a large group, it was critical that the moderators created a "safe" environment that really promoted participation, "where no one is wrong." She noted that the students "trusted" the moderators and that it definitely helped that the forum moderators and workshop presenters were adult learners and ethnic minorities. She reiterated the importance of these types of opportunities for participation and awareness building among her students. She said, "somehow they didn't get the knowledge about life and reality, hard facts and consequences" that she felt that people outside the adult school environment had gotten. She said, "these guys are so naive, it's painful." She stated that the Key to Community Project is a perfect example of the type of "enrichment" that can help combat the ignorance and the lack of confidence that keeps these students trapped.
The government class instructor described Key to Community as "a good experience" for her students: "they learned how to vote, about the parties, and how to make choices." The forum "gave students the opportunity to express themselves and ask for what they need." She said that the students referred back to the forum in their class discussions. For her student audience which is largely immigrant, she says the hardest part of teaching government is helping them to understand "the voting system and the way we elect our leaders." She noted that a large group of Laotian students had received their citizenship right before the election, and they did in fact register and vote. She felt that the workshop was part of the information that helped them make this decision. She noted that "at first, not that many are that excited to become a citizen" until they understand the concepts of democracy. She again commented that the forum was helpful because "students get more into discussion about government" than just reading the material.
Berkeley Reads Library Literacy ProgramBerkeley Reads is a public library-based literacy program that provides one-on-one tutoring at no cost to participants. The program draws predominantly African American participants who are longtime residents of the neighborhood and some newcomers from various countries like Egypt and Ethiopia, all of whom tend to range from 25 to 55. Any activity at Berkeley Reads besides a weekly meeting with a volunteer tutor is optional for learners. The program sponsored an issues forum on Education: What Should Our Children Learn in School? on September 12th which was moderated by two adult learners. Turnout at the forum was seven people, smaller than had been anticipated, but each of the participants seemed to enjoy the discussion. Seeing the impact of the issues discussion on the learners, the Program Director for Berkeley Reads restructured the follow-up voting workshop to include discussion of issues, writing skills and the key components of the voting workshop. This session was held on September 28th with 17 attendees. The workshop broke into small groups to let participants identify issues of concern that they wanted to discuss and also covered the voting skit, registration and Easy Reader Voter Guide.
One of the interviewees attended the education issues forum. He is a 49-year-old optician with a new wife and two children. He has been a periodic voter at times but had limited community involvement. He had most recently had a frustrating experience with trying to start a men's ministry at his wife's church. He thought that "some of the guys were just coming together to talk about women or things" that weren't relevant to the projects in hand. He felt that "people seem like they don't really want to stop and make some decisions." He just listened during the first half of the forum and then jumped in to share his story about his educational experiences and actively participated after that. As a result of the discussion he volunteered that he really wanted to go out into the community and spread the word that people can make a difference in education and they can get involved. It appeared that the forum reinstilled hope for this gentleman.
Attendees at the writing/voting workshop and discussion included some lapsed voters as well as some experienced voters:
A soft-spoken African-American woman who is 47 years old hadn't voted in a while. She says she used to keep up with the issues a lot more than she does now. She has a visual impairment so she doesn't read as much and it is not as enjoyable to keep up with the issues. "In fact, it's really quite boring." Before the workshop, she said she was not active in the community because "I wouldn't know where to start. I wouldn't have anything to offer." She says, "It's been a long time" since she's participated in any issues discussions. She used to but "it used to get me in a lot of trouble. I was trying to enlighten people but it would be a downright dispute and people would have an argumentative mentality." She stopped because it became uncomfortable for her. The program director noted that this woman doesn't usually participate in Berkeley Reads activities, but she did attend the writing/voting workshop because she said she was invited by a student. She wasn't sure what it was about but she was curious. She found the issues discussion "interesting...firsthand, a chance to hear what other people think. To share information and exchange knowledge, thoughts and ideas...to be around other people." She noted that she enjoyed being "a participant and part of the group" that day. In the post interview, she was more open to other types of group participation and different possibilities of sharing her talents and experience. She also voted in the November 5 election. "I probably wouldn't have registered to vote if I hadn't come to the workshop." A 54 year old, divorced, white male, who grew up in a small town back east, has "always voted since I was 21." He attended the writing and voting workshop to work on his writing skills. He's not involved in groups because he's a "private person. For a long time I didn't want people to know I couldn't read." He enjoyed the voting and writing workshop and felt it was especially informative. He "learned that anyone can write with enough practice." He spent more time preparing for this election and moved past his former pattern of solitary behavior to ask some friends for help. "A couple of people helped me to understand some of the issues...they helped me to read it and then I decided." A 25 year old, African-American male registered to vote when he was 18 because he had "always heard from my mother and my grandmother about the importance of voting." He attended the writing and voting workshop to support his friend, one of the adult learners who was presenting and to "get in on some good information" that can help in the community outreach efforts that he's engaged in. He felt the highlight of the workshop was a conversation about the issues when he was in a small group with older people. He noted that some of the grievances they mentioned are still going on. "If it's still happening now, then something's wrong." He said, "the discussion motivated me to help other people." This young man ended up spending more time preparing for the election and talking with others about the ballot measures. He also increased his outreach efforts to others. A 57 year old, African-American woman has been a long time voter but has become less and less involved in the community over time. She says that she's been ill with high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis and "if I get involved, I'll get sick again, so I've had to cut back." She attended the writing and voting workshop because she "hadn't been to one and wanted to see what it was like and what I could do to have more [of a] relationship with my neighborhood." This woman said that she "loved it...there were other ideas besides mine about what to do in the neighborhood and what we could do to benefit education...I liked it because two heads are better than one. I would go again because I don't speak up to other people and if I keep going, it would give me courage to speak up to my neighbors." When asked what about the workshop gave her this courage: "the people there seemed like they cared and they made me feel better about myself. They weren't phony." Later in the interview she said, "the workshop and library program have given me the idea to help in the schools." She also shared that one of the reasons she's been holding back is "I can't start until I can read better. I'm afraid that if I went into help with arts and crafts or playground, the teacher might ask me to take over the class and I couldn't do that now." She also shared of her new commitment to get her GED because "I want to help at school."
When asked what impact the Key to Community Project had on her learners, Berkeley Reads Director Abigail Sims-Evelyn said, "it got some of the learners really excited." She gave some examples, like the learner who came to the program after attending the workshop and "discussed how he was going to vote on the issues. This was new for [him]. He never had a setting where he could share his opinions and be respected for what he said." About one of the new citizens who "really spoke out" at the voting workshop, Abigail said she had never seen him become that involved before. Overall, Abigail cited two main impacts of the Key to Community Project:
Baldwin Park Adult School serves a wide body of community residents working on their GED's, English as a second language and other courses. Students range in age from 18 to over 50: about half of the students are Hispanic. The site coordinator selected Juvenile Violence as the topic for the issues forum which was held on September 27th. It was a Friday afternoon when school is not normally in session, so only about nine people attended. There was a larger turnout of about 25 students for the voting workshop (which incorporated an issues discussion on jobs) the following week on October 3rd. In addition to these two planned events, several instructors at the school incorporated the Easy Reader Voter Guide and discussion of the ballot measures into their classes.
A young, 22 year old single mother had registered to vote before the Key to Community Project because her best friend had told her that it was important. However, she has not been active in any community activities because she had recently moved to this neighborhood and doesn't "know where to go or who to talk to." She attended the issues forum and workshop and said she learned a lot from both. Regarding the forum she said, "It was totally different. I thought we were going to sit there and hear people talk at us. But instead, everybody participated." She also felt that the voting workshop and the Easy Reader Voter Guide were helpful in getting ready to vote so that she could "see both sides of all the propositions." She tried to get her boyfriend interested in voting but at least made him accompany her to the polls on election day. She found "in two minutes, I was done. I didn't think it was going to be that easy." Her final comment about the Key to Community Project, "I didn't really think I could actually make a difference, but I can."
One young man had never registered to vote before because of "a lack of people reaching out explaining why your vote might count". An 18 year old African-American, he doesn't participate in group activities or discussions. He describes his interactions as more "one-on-one". He attended the voting workshop to get class credit and ended up registering to vote that day. He was particularly impressed with his experience in the issues discussion about jobs. At first he didn't want to speak up because "I was afraid that my friends were going to laugh at me because of what I said. But then I decided I don't care what they think. I was thinking negative, but then I started thinking positive. My friends told me that 'you're a good speaker. You should be a counselor'." He has ended up increasing the types of discussions that he participates in. For example, in class he participated in student presentations of the different ballot measures and the pros and cons. This young many didn't end up voting on election day. He said, "I wanted to vote but I didn't have enough time to get there." He seemed sincerely sorry because he insisted "it's your right. You've got to stand up for your right. My word didn't get heard." On the other hand, as a result of the workshop and issues discussion and some of these other class activities, this young man said, "I started to care about school. Last year I didn't care about school. Now I want to go to college and get a diploma and experience more things in the world."
A young Latina who had recently become a citizen had planned to vote in this election, but she hadn't yet registered. She attended the juvenile violence forum and "didn't want to go at first...I wasn't interested. I decided to go because I was there and they had a baby-sitter and I'm taking high school classes and they said they'd give me credit if I went." She was an active participant in the discussion and "I was so excited about what we discussed there I came home and talked to my husband about it. You usually hear problems about juveniles, but you don't hear the real problems or what can be done." She attended the voting workshop the following week and said, "It was very good. I was going to vote anyway but it gave me more information about how to vote." She ended up going by herself to the polls and felt good about it. "At the meeting they showed us how to do it. They role-played and so it felt comfortable to me."
The Key to Community Project also had an impact on the Baldwin Park participants who are already voters. For example, a 48 year old woman who has been voting for a long time says that she's not very active in the community because she doesn't know that many people. She has had a very demanding job for the past thirteen years but is now open to getting connected in more ways. "That's why I'm going to school, to improve my English so I can talk to people better and they can understand me better." She really enjoyed the Key to Community Project program. "The program they did about voting at school is really something. I like to talk to people. The program about voting got me thinking about the community and made me want to get more involved."
A 39 year old woman has three children, the oldest of whom has recently gotten into trouble with the law. Therefore, she was very interested in the juvenile violence forum. She was an active participant and said "there should be more forums like this in the community. People are interested but don't know where to go." What she liked about the forum was "the chance to hear opinion, help you get things off your mind and a chance to listen to others." As a result of the forum, she has been in contact with one of the forum moderators who has given her different neighborhood opportunities to pursue. She has also mentioned that she is planning to attend literacy tutor training and become a literacy tutor. In terms of her voting behavior, she had already been a very enthusiastic voter and drove some of her neighbors to the polls like she has done in previous elections. Notably though she shared that before this election, "I didn't use to vote on the measures," but now she pays more attention to them. The discussion at school about the issues plus the Easy Reader Voter Guide helped her overcome the fact that "the measures are written so a lot of people don't understand them." The Easy Reader Voter Guide is "easier to read than the big pamphlet."
One young man was disappointed that he wasn't old enough to vote in this election -- a 17 year old male who has recovered from a substance abuse problem a couple of years ago. He'd been active with the church and Narcotics Anonymous but had not had much experience in discussing issues with others. He attended the issues forum as the only young man and non-parent participant yet held his own in the discussion. He enjoyed the forum because "you get to hear what other people say. I've never been in anything like that." He also mentioned that it was a more ethnically diverse group that he is usually involved in and that during the forum, "they don't get mad at you for what you say. They accept your opinions." Based upon the positive experience he had at the forum, he recruited some of his friends at school to come to the voting workshop. What he told them about the Key to Community Project was "it's something different. You get to participate." As a result of these positive experiences at school, he says he's gotten more focused about where to channel his energies. For instance he's now working as a teacher's assistant where he's "getting credit and getting experience." He says that he plans to become a drug counselor.
The Baldwin Park State Literacy Resource Center coordinator, Joyce Moore, was overall "very pleased" with the Key to Community Project. While she wishes she could have recruited more participants, she was quite confident that the people who participated "really got something out of it." In terms of the structure of the project, Joyce believes that "two sessions are better than doing one combined. One long session would have to be on a Saturday and it would be harder to get students and community members." She said "the issues forum generates interest. They get hooked on the one and come back for the second." Joyce felt that the issues forum worked well in providing students with a chance to voice their opinion. Joyce was also very positive about the voting workshop. She noted that the Key to Community Project process and materials were also adapted by other classes. Joyce was also very enthusiastic about the Easy Reader Voter Guide which was disseminated widely in the Baldwin Park community. She thinks the Guide should be made available for future elections in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.