Membership

Letter to AEEE from Senator Frank R. Lautenberg.

 

Dear AEEE Colleagues,

It seems that 2012-2013 is a year of extremes! Super Storm Sandy devastated Coastal New Jersey and New York City and folks are still trying to recover. Gun violence has reached ever-more frightening levels and a “fiscal cliff” looms in Washington DC threatening the funding for TRiO programs. Organized action is essential in response to these critical situations.

 
Recognizing the particularly disastrous impact of Hurricane Sandy on the vulnerable populations TRiO serves, the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) rallied behind TRiO students and staff who suffered from the effects of this storm. On November 15, 2012, the National TRiO Day of Giving netted $4,250 in contributions from the TRiO family.  COE staffer Al Phillips worked with AEEE to identify students and staff who were in most need of assistance. Then Al mailed gift cards in the amount of $250 each to program directors who, in turn, distributed the cards to a total of 17 folks who had been affected by the storm.

 
Still reeling from the hurricane, we were all stunned by the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  When former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, herself a victim of gun violence, told Congress that, “We must act!” she was referring to gun control.  But her impassioned statement also applies to the very real funding threats currently faced by TRiO programs.  We know we cannot sit on the sidelines.  We know our nation’s future rests with the future of our students.  When our programs and our students are threatened, “We must act!”  And we must act together because our strength lies in our organization.

Fortunately, we have strong guidance from COE and there are many opportunities for us to act:

• We can maintain our AEEE membership and encourage our colleagues to join us.  There truly is strength in numbers!
• We can participate in Policy Seminar (March 10-12th) by making team visits to our congressional representatives and telling the TRiO story - TRiO works!
• We can contribute information about our students and programs to our State Fact Book.
• We can share our successes with the media.
• We can educate our institutions about the importance of what we do, about how we strengthen and advance the academic pipeline, and what that means for them.
• We can join forces with COE in the battle for TRiO funding by making calls, sending emails and texts to congressional offices.

Thanks to all of you for your dedication to equality and excellence in education.

Best regards,

Mary Ellen Mulvey, Ph.D.

President, Association for Equality and Excellence in Education

 

 

Additional information on the efforts of COE in response to Super Storm Sandy can be found here, in an email from Al Philips.