With a presidential election and the decennial census coinciding, 2020 is a big year for adult education students and programs. Each of these major civic events will determine a great deal about the future. For example, the census will determine how more than $800 billion in federal aid is distributed to states for housing, education, and other services. WIOA funds are determined by a formula based on the census results. The census also determines how district lines are drawn and how many members each state gets to elect for Congress. That’s why the New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) <https://nelrc.org/> at World Education is working in collaboration with National Coalition for Literacy (NCL) <https://national-coalition-literacy.org/> to encourage adult education programs to integrate stronger-than-usual attention to civics in the coming year. As adult educators, we need to support our learners to “stand up and be counted.” That is the theme of the next issue of The Change Agent magazine. This issue will complement online resources with mostly student-written reading and teaching material about the census and the elections (non-partisan). *Please i**nvite your students to write for the “Stand Up and Be Counted” issue of The Change Agent <https://changeagent.nelrc.org/write-for-us/>* (writing deadline: November 1, 2019; publication date: February 15, 2020). To come up to speed on the census and why it matters, watch this NELRC/NCL webinar <https://jsi.webex.com/ec3300/eventcenter/recording/recordAction.do?theAction=poprecord&siteurl=jsi&entappname=url3300&internalRecordTicket=4832534b00000004e17c9b3629dde4b62c383491f50aecfec1e4aa072fcc42f661fdf0e6cd31b643&renewticket=0&isurlact=true&format=short&rnd=1329083938&RCID=857a3ce14f7149c790805578b06097e5&rID=174287952&needFilter=false&recordID=174287952&apiname=lsr.php&AT=pb&actappname=ec3300&&SP=EC&entactname=%2FnbrRecordingURL.do&actname=%2Feventcenter%2Fframe%2Fg.do> about preparing adult education programs for the 2020 Census. The census also offers job opportunities with good wages for qualified adults. They are hiring thousands of enumerators, and they are interested in bilingual applicants. Consider holding an information session about jobs available. To learn more, register for this NELRC/NCL webinar <http://bit.ly/census-webinar1> about supporting students to apply for census jobs. If you miss the webinar on October 11, 2019 at 2:00 pm ET, you can watch a recording of it here <https://nelrc.org/>. Also see 2020census.gov./jobs The Census will be in full swing after April 1, National Census Day. Now is the time to get ready. There's a lot at stake. Best, Silja [image: image.png] . . Silja kallenbach [image: Red Squares]Vice President [image: Red Squares] 617.482.9485 www.worlded.org [image: JSILogo] <http://www.facebook.com/worlded> [image: JSILogo] <http://www.twitter.com/worlded>