Colorado Adult Education Professional Association
Newsletter

A meeting was held for VALUE, (Voice of Adult Learners United to Educate) on January 10, 2015 at the Fort Morgan Public Library from 10 AM - 12 PM. Twenty three people were in attendance from various organizations.There were students from Cargill/MCC Workplace Education, two learners were in attendance from MCC Adult Basic Education, one from Concorde Career College, three from Fort Morgan High School, two local authors, and five instructors.

The purpose of VALUE is to educate adult learners by placing them in leadership roles with added opportunities and challenges. Therefore, the learners ran the meeting. The group discussed that their project will be named The Long Journey. They will compile a collection of stories and photographs from immigrants in Morgan County and the surrounding areas. They will also include writings about the feelings of longtime area residents toward the recent influx of immigrants. The book will then be printed and presented to the public. Books will be donated to the local libraries and schools. The group hopes that the book, and it’s presentation to many organizations, will build better relations between the local and immigrant populations. Eventually, the group wants to present the book outside of Morgan County. After the group agreed on a project summary, they outlined the steps that would be required to complete the project. First, stories must be written and gathered. Then the stories will be edited and organized by category. Someone will be responsible for researching where to bind the books with our limited budget. Finally, someone will head a committee to schedule public appearances for the book presentation.

The group discussed of some of the supports and barriers to their book project. Supports include teachers, classmates, churches, searching the internet, coworkers, money, the city of Fort Morgan, Cargill, and other businesses. Some of their barriers included time, collecting enough stories, balancing the stories, editing, and money. Finally, the group brainstormed strategies to deal with each barrier. They realized that they could draw from their supports to overcome each barrier.

The team members discussed inviting their friends to join the group in order to have more stories and help with The Long Journey project.