GMLC Participates in U.N. Day

GMLC took part in U.N. Day – A Call to Action and Celebration of the Global Campaign to Make Poverty History, held October 8 at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. Many other grassroots organizations, women’s groups, political-activist groups, and groups from Marquette and UWM participated.

GMLC’s new display board, which features pictures telling what we are all about and statistics about literacy, was quite a success, as people passed and asked about our coalition. We sold several gel bracelets and several Boston Store coupons. There were several speakers and workshops on the issue of poverty. At our booth we were able to tie in the ways in which poverty affects education and literacy. According to statistics, more than 41% of all children in Milwaukee live in poverty, the fourth worst in the nation.

At the luncheon, the keynote speaker was Ambassador George McGovern, the former Democratic Senator from South Dakota who was defeated by President Nixon in 1972. He is passionate about ending world hunger. He said nations have committed to cutting chronic hunger in half by 2015, which means providing enough food to take 400 million people off the worldwide hunger rolls in 10 years. He expressed confidence that this is not an “insoluble task.”

Eileen Marotte

The Will to Govern Well: Best Practices of Successful Boards

Board members of 11 Wisconsin literacy agencies had the opportunity to attend a full-day workshop on capacity building for non-profit boards on Friday, November 4, at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel. The workshop – organized by the GMLC, sponsored by Literacy USA, and funded by grants from UPS Foundation, Verizon and Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation – was conducted by Bud Crouch of Tecker Consultants and Edith Gower, executive director of Literacy USA.

As a group and as teams we examined:

• Qualities, skills and core competencies of successful not-for-profit organizations
• Strategies to improve the effectiveness of organizations
• Characteristics of effective and productive meetings
• Structure of ‘nimble’ organizations able to seize opportunities and continue moving forward

GMLC board members attended an additional session on Saturday, when we were able to ask questions and pursue strategies specific to our own organization and operations. We are fortunate to have had this opportunity and will be taking action in the coming months regarding suggestions from this consultation.

Dawn Lauber