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WE LEARN c/o Mev Miller 182 Riverside Ave. Cranston, RI 02910 401-383-4374 welearn@litwomen.org

ATTN: Women’s Studies Faculty & Researchers

August 17, 2009

Dear Colleagues:

I am writing to introduce you to WE LEARN (Women Expanding Literacy Education Action Resource Network) and to raise awareness and gain support for our mission. We are particularly interested in increasing support and involvement from Women’s Studies programs and students.

WE LEARN is a nonprofit community organization promoting women’s literacy as a tool that fosters empowerment and equity for women. WE LEARN works to raise awareness of the issues that low-literate women face, increase support for women’s basic education, promote women’s learning as a step towards empowerment and gender equality, and provide women-centered resources for literacy learners. For more information on WE LEARN, you can watch our YouTube video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IHp5vUALXg.

Education is typically pinpointed as a major factor in obtaining gender equity; however, literacy and basic education are often neglected in the discussions of women’s education. By informing Women’s Studies Programs (WS) about our work and resources, we hope to realize an important goal, namely, to encourage the inclusion of women’s basic literacies in the canon used by WS to address women’s access to education. We want to alert students and researchers to the issues and disadvantages encountered by low-literate women. These experiences often provide the underpinnings for broader issues related to poverty, labor, work and economics, domestic and community violence, racism, healthcare, childcare, sexuality, and the myriad of other intersecting issues and concerns affecting women’s lives.

This past year, WE LEARN had the honor of working with several university student interns from Women’s Studies and Public Policy. Marylou Salvatore’s thoughtful article forms the cornerstone of the enclosed packet. Her article serves as an introduction for women’s studies students to the basic issues encountered by low literate women. In addition to this article, we have also included the following:

• WE LEARN Brochure and a catalog of our resources

• Flyer for our newest book Empowering Women Through Literacy: Views from Experience

• Call for Proposals for our next book on the EmBODYment of Women’s Literacy

• Fact sheet on state specific statistics related to women’s literacy

• The Change Agent #19: Women & Literacy, which includes narratives written by literacy learners

If you could pass these materials around your department to professors who may have classes focused in areas such as education, sociology, social justice, public service or any other suitable course of study, it would be greatly appreciated. Most of these materials can also be downloaded from our website. WE LEARN is also open to working with students for internships or research projects, however, I ask that the chair or supervising professor contact me before you send students to us.

Thank you for your support and consideration,

Dr. Mev Miller

Director / Founder