Aligning for Action: CAEL Ambassador Advances Cross-Sector Partnerships and State Strategies in Adult Education

Angel Maguire, M.Ed., is the adult education instructional services director for Illinois Eastern Community Colleges. She is also a CAEL Ambassador and a member of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE). As she has for CAEL, Maguire has embraced a leadership role at COABE. In March, COABE named her a State Advocate for Adult Education fellow. The State Advocate for Adult Education Fellowship (SAAEF) is a “a hands-on advocacy training program for adult educators, adult learners, and friends of adult education.”

As part of her fellowship, Maguire is chairing monthly meetings of the Illinois State Advocacy Committee for Adult Continuing Education and Workforce Development (ACEWD Advocacy Committee). Angel uses the meetings to convene practitioners representing educators, trainers, employers, workforce developers, and other functions critical to adult learning in Illinois. With working groups, academies, and other cross-sector partnerships integral to its impact, Maguire’s approach to aligning diverse but mission-aligned partners to scale capacity offers relevant insights to CAEL’s own network of stakeholders.

The Illinois ACEWD Advocacy Committee focuses on engaging policymakers, media, and other community influencers on the adoption and advancement of changes that support adult learners throughout the state. Its work complements COABE’s national policy efforts. “I see the SAAEF program as a valuable way to grow in adult education advocacy, to contribute to adult education awareness across the state of Illinois, and gaining valuable connections through networking opportunities,” said Maguire. 

Her focus on state-level opportunities evokes some of CAEL’s strategies to scale its work to deliver systemic impact, as outlined in its Theory of Change. CAEL recently played a key role in the first-ever statewide policy guidance for CPL in Indiana. It is also supporting career pathways development for a six-state region under the Great Lakes ReNEW Initiative. In addition, CAEL facilitated the development of the Delaware Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) Policy Framework.

Early in her fellowship, Maguire has already led the Illinois ACEWD Advocacy Committee through an analysis of several issues of pressing concern to the adult learning committee. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reauthorization is among them. With the reauthorization process currently in the Senate after passing the House in April, COABE advocates, including Maguire, are urging an increase in WIOA Title II funding to be included in the final FY 2025 appropriations bill. Title II of WIOA is the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA). AEFLA provides the bulk of the federal funding for adult education programs that states receive. 

She has also highlighted the Connect Illinois five-year action plan, an effort to bring universal broadband access to the state. To help illustrate the potential impact of closing the digital divide, she invited leaders from Comcast Corporation, the city of Flora, located in southeastern Illinois about 100 miles east of St. Louis, and Kaskaskia College to address the ACEWD Advocacy Committee. The ensuing discussion revolved around the critical need to ensure educational components and job training support the Connect Illinois initiative, particularly in light of regional labor shortages. 

In addition to covering pressing issues in education and workforce development, Maguire is using the ACEWD Advocacy Committee to encourage collaborative strategies to manage them. The committee heard from the senior director for adult education and literacy at the Illinois Community College Board, who shared details about an upcoming digital ad push attached to the Behind Every Employer campaign, a national COABE initiative. The campaign will target employers to connect them to adult education programs to partner on customized training for their staff. The goal is to help employers upskill their workforce, retain employees, and improve the talent pipeline.

To provide a compelling affirmation of the committee’s work, Maguire includes an adult learner success story in each agenda. At June’s meeting, she shared the story of an adult learner who overcame significant barriers, including incarceration due to addiction, to transform her life. The student completed her GED in the fall of 2022 and is now an advocate for recovery, sharing her testimony at support centers. In fact, she is now pursuing a degree in drug counseling at Lincoln Trail College. “The more that we share our success stories and we educate our … stakeholders at the state and national level, we're going to get their ear and their eye toward us and bring funding sustainability for the efforts that we have for our programs,” Maguire said.

In addition to sharing resources and encouragement on how to engage state and federal representatives on collectively important policies, Maguire invites individual input from each committee member. She polls the members to stay informed about their priorities and offers individual meetings and advocacy strategies. As the ACEWD Advocacy Committee continues to meet, CAEL will share updates from Maguire on the committee’s focus areas and their outcomes. If you would like to connect with Angel to learn more about her work and her role with COABE, you can email her at maguirea@iecc.edu or maguirea2@sou.edu.