|
A Literacy Leader Transforming Lives Through Adult Education, GlobalMindED, and Beyond: Meet Sharon Bonney
Born to two blue-collar parents, I learned the value of hard work early on. My dad worked for the same company for 42 years, learning a variety of trades over the years, eventually retiring as head electrician for one of the largest employers in our area. My mother was a stay-at-home mom at first and returned to school to become an LPN while we were still young. They were married for 50 years before my mother succumbed to cancer. In the field of adult education, we often refer to statistics because we realize data tells a story. One such data point is that a child’s literacy level is uniquely tied to their mother’s literacy level, outweighing all other statistics including poverty. While my mother grew up impoverished and barely graduated from high school, all four of her children, not only graduated but three of four had the honor of achieving the status of class salutatorian at our small private Christian school. My three siblings attended college, with my brother becoming a watch commander, one sister becoming an award-winning nurse practitioner, and my other sister becoming a nurse anesthetist.
I am the only one in my family not to attend college because I didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career, and I had the mindset that attending college without a clear focus and vision for my life would be a recipe for wasted time.
I worked several jobs from age 18 to 24 and then had the blessing of finding the field of adult education when I was 25 years old. I fell into a job in adult education, and over the last 25 years have worked in many different positions in the wonderful profession that transforms lives through literacy. I have been in my current role as Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education, the world’s largest adult education association for the last 4 years. I truly love the impact that we are making through our various award-winning initiatives.
Some of the initiatives that I have been most proud of include our six-time award-winning “Educate and Elevate” national public awareness campaign, pushed out by “Success Files with Rob Lowe” to more than 143 million viewers nationwide. This campaign helped stave off funding cuts, increased much-needed funding per adult learner, and raised visibility for an underrepresented population. 78% of adult learners are people of color and more than 60% are immigrants. One of the goals of “Educate and Elevate” was to change the mindset of policymakers and funders regarding adult learners. We continue to make progress in this area by citing data such as 83% of learners that enter a program with the stated goal of obtaining their high school equivalency meet that goal, and 45% go on to college. Of those 45%, 90% complete the degree they set out for–often while caring for children and working multiple jobs.
Our organization provides leadership, professional development, advocacy, and communication for the field of adult educators. We have over 52,000 active members serving millions of learners across the country. One area we have recently invested in is helping learners to obtain badges and credentials. We have launched the Behind Every Employer campaign which connects business leaders to local programs and helps them to see the local program as a talent pipeline. Over 800 programs are participating in this initiative. Additionally, we have worked with Amazon since 2019, to help learners obtain jobs with benefits and have worked with IBM SkillsBuild and Google to provide badging and credentials that help learners become more employable. Currently, we are Google’s Top Performing Partner, having helped hundreds of learners cultivate in-demand job skills in professions that have a median annual wage of $76,000.
At COABE, we are always looking for ways to tell the story of adult learners–their grit, the barriers they are working against, and their accomplishments. That’s why we were delighted when we recently had the opportunity to share our work at the Global MindED Conference. We spoke to a packed room of professionals and leaders about the inclusive talent pipeline of adult learners, moving into the workforce from adult education programs and the community college sectors. We made many connections following the presentation and invited all to attend our national conference which will be held in Dallas, Texas from March 30 to April 2, 2025.
I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-bonney-coabe/. You can learn more about COABE at www.coabe.org.
| 
