CAEL Ambassador Angel Maguire Completes COABE Fellowship

CAEL Ambassador Angel Maguire, M.Ed., recently completed her one-year State Advocate for Adult Education fellowship for Illinois. Maguire is the adult education instructional services director for Illinois Eastern Community Colleges.

A key responsibility of Maguire during her fellowship was chairing monthly meetings of the Illinois State Advocacy Committee for Adult Continuing Education and Workforce Development (ACEWD Advocacy Committee). Complementing COABE’s national policy efforts, the ACEWD Advocacy Committee engages educators, trainers, employers, workforce developers, and representatives of other key niches in the state’s education-employment ecosystem. 

During a recent gathering of CAEL Ambassadors, Maguire shared some highlights from her final presentation to the ACEWD Committee. As a CAEL Ambassador, Maguire is no stranger to advocacy. She offered the committee legislative talking points, a media outreach toolkit, and a campaign outreach toolkit.

Her presentation also devoted content to COABE’s Educate and Elevate campaign to raise awareness about adult education as a funding priority. It emphasized Educate and Elevate’s 10-point petition, which acknowledges:

1. The right to an education.
2. Social mobility out of intergenerational poverty.
3. Health and well-being.
4. Workforce development and economic growth.
5. English language acquisition.
6. Digital literacy.
7. Correctional and reentry education.
8. Safer communities.
9. Community empowerment.
10. Intergenerational learning.

To further underscore the importance of advocacy, Maguire noted that several COABE-supported provisions for bolstering adult education were reflected in a discussion draft for reauthorization of the the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act released by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. While WIOA reauthorization remains an unknown in 2025, Maguire cited a positive trend in adult learner funding over the past eight years, when the average funding per student increased by more than 52%.

Maguire also spoke about the COABE 2025 Conference Students as Leaders Mini Grant Application process. The grants supported adult learners’, adult education program representatives’, and state association representatives’ attendance of the COABE 2025 national conference March 31-April 2 in Dallas. 

She also encouraged attendance at the 2025 Illinois Adult and Continuing Educators' Association IACEA Conference. The three-day event was dedicated to adult educators in Illinois and included professional development and networking opportunities.

Maguire used her work with CAEL to stress the compelling impact of adult learner advocacy through student perspectives. Her presentation included a success story about an adult learner who became a cybersecurity expert that helped accentuate CAEL’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

Maguire returned to the theme of IT excellence when she called attention to Illinois' Digital Equity Capacity Grant, which is channeling more than $30 million to the state over the next five years. Among the initiatives it will support are university partnerships and engaging nonprofits and community-based organizations.

(As a reminder, CAEL is now accepting nominations for its 2025 Annual Awards. We invite you to help us honor individuals and institutions making a lasting impact on adult learners. Submit your nominations for one of our five distinguished awards.)

Maguire concluded her report to the ACEWD Advocacy Committee with a summary of COABE key accomplishments through the end of 2024. They included:

• A funding increase of $133.5 million in adult education funding since 2017.
• Preserved funding in fiscal year 2024 during a time when other education programs faced cuts.
• Won over 10 new Congressional supporters for fiscal year 2025 funding.
• Secured pivotal wins in the proposed Adult Education WORKS Act and WIOA reauthorization around digital literacy, professional development, and other topics.
• Engaged more than 40,000 individuals during Advocacy April.
• Awarded Champion of Adult Education Leadership Awards to 22 Congressional leaders.