SENATE MEMORIAL 29

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

Gay G. Kernan

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING FEBRUARY 15, 2011 AS "ADULT BASIC EDUCATION AND LITERACY DAY" IN THE SENATE.

     WHEREAS, in a future that is anticipated to be increasingly dependent on technology, New Mexico will need a highly literate population; and

     WHEREAS, more than forty percent of the adults in New Mexico have a literacy problem that severely impacts their lives and families, their ability to work productively and their full participation as residents of the state; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico's community colleges and universities and its volunteer and community-based organizations provided basic skills and literacy services to more than thirty-two thousand adults between 2009 and 2010, including providing one million seven hundred thousand hours of instruction; and

     WHEREAS, two thousand six hundred ninety-one individuals received their GED high school equivalency diplomas, more than one thousand individuals enrolled in post-secondary education or training and two thousand three hundred six individuals entered or retained employment between 2009 and 2010; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico higher education department, the New Mexico coalition for literacy and numerous adult basic education programs and community-based and nonprofit literacy organizations are jointly committed to eradicating illiteracy in the state; and

     WHEREAS, without this array of adult basic education and literacy programs, adult New Mexicans would find it difficult to access the services and benefits to which they are entitled in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, on January 25, 2011, Susana Martinez, governor of New Mexico, declared February 15, 2011 as "Adult Basic Education and Literacy Day" in New Mexico;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that February 15, 2011 be declared "Adult Basic Education and Literacy Day" in the senate; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of higher education and the executive director of the New Mexico coalition for literacy.

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