Dear Colleagues, I am delighted to be able to tell you that the Adult Literacy Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives is growing and poised for action in the 115th Congress. Our longtime champion, Rep. Phil Roe (TN-1) continues as caucus sponsor and Republican co-chair. Representative John Yarmuth (KY-3) has agreed to serve as Democratic co-chair, taking the place of Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, who retired last year. Two weeks ago, the offices of Rep. Roe and Rep. Yarmuth distributed the attached Dear Colleague letter, inviting all members of the House to join the caucus. Now it is our turn to encourage our representatives to follow up on the invitation. Feel free to reference the Dear Colleague letter when contacting your representative to enlist support. The week of February 20 will be a district work week when Representatives are back in their districts, so contacting the local office as well as the Washington office will be particularly effective then. The current members of the Literacy Caucus are listed below. If your representative is one of them, be sure to say thank you and encourage active participation! If your representative is not (yet) on the list, please do follow up. Word from the Hill and from local offices is that the volume of calls, emails, and letters has been phenomenally high in recent weeks, so as you disseminate this message to your networks, you may want to include guidance such as this: Be prepared with a concise message that includes your name, your address (to show you’re a constituent), what you are calling/writing about (joining the Adult Literacy Caucus), and why it's important. Also include your contact info and an offer to provide further information if the Representative or staff would like. I am also providing links to the House calendar and to the list of Representatives in the 115th Congress for our reference. Thank you in advance for distributing this information and promoting the Adult Literacy Caucus. Cordially, Deborah Deborah Kennedy President, National Coalition for Literacy www.national-coalition-literacy.org <http://www.national-coalition-literacy.org/> House Adult Literacy Caucus Members, February 2017 Republicans: - Phil Roe (TN-1), sponsor and co-chair - Diane Black (TN-6) - Dennis Ross (FL-15) - Joe Wilson (SC-2) Democrats: - John Yarmuth (KY-3), co-chair - Yvette Clark (NY-9) - Gerry Connolly (VA-11) - Elijah Cummings (MD-7) - Lloyd Doggett (TX-35) - Raul Grijalva (AZ-3) - Hank Johnson (GA-4) - Jim Langevin (RI-2) - Gregory Meeks (NY-5) - Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) - David Price (NC-4) - Jared Polis (CO-2) - C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (MD-2) - Gregorio Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands) - John Sarbanes (MD-3) - Paul Tonko (NY-20) House calendar: https://www.majorityleader.gov/2017-calendar/ <https://www.majorityleader.gov/2017-calendar/> Directory of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/representatives/ <http://www.house.gov/representatives/>