Important Adult Education Organizations

KEITH COZART COMMENTED ON THE FOLLOWING PAPERS GROUP 2 and GROUP 3

KYLE OWEN COMMENTED ON GROUPS 1 and 2

Important Adult Education Organizations:
The Lumina Foundation and the Small Planet Institute

Keith Cozart, Kyle Owens

Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Group 4

Division of Responsibilities:

Kyle Owens: The Lumina Foundation and table

Keith Cozart: The Small Planet Institute, table, summarized comparison, references, edits, submission and blog posting.

Abstract

This research paper describes and compares two important adult education community organizations the Lumina Foundation and The Small Planet Institute.  Though the discovery of these two organizations this paper will identify and describe their names, organizational start-ups, missions and goals, roles and responsibilities and other pertinent information relating to their aimed accomplishments.  The paper will conclude with a cross comparison between the two organizations identifying aspects of their impact and implications within society and the field of adult education.

Important Adult Education Organizations:
The Lumina Foundation and the Small Planet Institute

An introduction to the Lumina Foundation and its’ Mission

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s USA Groups was the nation’s largest private guarantor and administrator of education loans (Miller, 2007).  On July 31^st, 2000 USA groups sold most of its assets to Sallie Mae for a sum close to 770 million dollars. Both of these companies held a stake in the student loan industry and the merger was seen a successful transition that had no negative effects on the customers. While most of the merger was complete, the subsidiary USA Funds was unable to be purchased for legal reasons in the mediation. USA Funds was a non-profit branch of USA groups that was incorporated with the purposes of fostering education and the continuation of studies, promoting attainment of higher education by those who otherwise might be unable to achieve it, and advancing the cause of aid and support to college students (USA Funds, 2014). After the transition and the buyout by Sallie Mae, the USA Fund changed from a non-profit to a foundation.

The new foundation became the USA Group Foundation with the mission to provide special emphasis on the improvement of higher education through the strategic utilization of original and sponsored research, provision of educational grants and sponsorship of selected educational activities (Miller, 2007). Once the foundation had become official then Sallie Mae issued a press release and the USA Group stating that all proceeds from the merger (770 million) would be given as an endowment to the USA Group Foundation in the hopes of improving the access to higher education. The transaction immediately made the USA Group Foundations one of the largest education foundations in the United States. After receiving these funds it was the goal of the company to change their identity and to become something new. The board of the USA Group Foundation wanted to have a search committee find a name with the goals being that of a distinct entity.  On February 27th, 2001 the USA Group Foundation officially became the Lumina Foundation with the motto “A new light dawns on American Higher Education”.

Goals, Roles and Responsibilities

The Lumina Foundation stated that their goals were to increase the proportion of Americans with high quality degrees, certificates, and other credentials (Lumina, 2014). Since the Lumina Foundation was in its early stages of formation and had a lot to learn when it came to successfully run an educational foundation, the board decided to seek the help of the Lilly Endowment. The Lilly endowment fund help integrate a grant – management system as well as provide valuable information. Lumina identifies and supports a proprietary definition of effective practice, through public policy advocacy, and by using communications and convening to build public will for change (Lumina, 2014).

The Lumina foundation has recently started their 2025 goal campaign, which is aimed to mobilize action at the local, state and national levels to reach a goal of 60% higher education attainment (Lumina, 2014). The CEO has been quoted saying “Goal 2025 is not Lumina’s goal; it is the nation’s goal”. The first part of this to goal is to create a social movement in society and promote the idea that education is attainable. If those in society are never aware of those opportunities to gain hire education, then the Lumina Foundation has already failed at its goal. The second part of the Luminas strategy to achieve goal 2025 is to reach out to employer and metro areas to increase the likely hood of the opportunity reaching the people. When are you able to bring everyone together to help achieve a common goal then the likelihood of the goal succeeding is much higher. The third strategy in Lumina’s goal is to reach out to institutions and help provide the education. If you don’t have a way to provide students with the education then there will be no place for these students to gain an education. The fourth an probably most important strategy is to seek the help of state governments, to be able to achieve something of this magnitude then policies will need to be put in place to help. The Final stage of this strategy is advance federal policy that is already in place. Ever since the “War on Poverty” there has been plenty of policies and funding put in place to help attainment of higher quality education. The goal here is just to advance it and adapt it to the current need. A brief video of each of these strategies can be at the bottom of this portion of the report.

Impact and implications

The Lumina Foundation is focused on providing education to all individuals from all walks of life, not only high school students who are graduating from high school and looking for the next step. One of the ways that the Lumina Foundation promotes adult education is through open education resources, which are a strategy to make the whole experience of seeking high education a lot more affordable. Open Educational Resources are any educational resources that are available to both educators and students with having to pay fees for licensing. This type of opportunity could potentially help take relieve some of the financial load off of those individuals both adults who are considering improving both their education and lives. The Lumina foundation also promotes helping veterans receive education once they return from service. In their publication Focus, the foundation gives examples and stories about how they have helped adults achieve the goal of receiving further and meaningful education.

In a recent article by the Pittsburgh Gazette discussed how Lumina Foundation are helping fund services that will be used in Pittsburgh to increase post-secondary education among African-American males, the group that has the smallest numbers taking advantage of the Promise scholarships (Niederberger, 2013). The Lumina foundation has also been responsible for providing the funding to help found Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, KnowHow2GO, and College Productivity. The Lumina Foundation has been responsible for helping hundreds of adults and high school students gain higher education. This foundation has the funds and support to help change the world and achieve their goal to have 60% of Americans achieves “Higher Quality Education” by 2025.  The following list of links highlight The Five Strategies the Lumina Foundation aims to achieve by 2025:

Strategy 1

Strategy 2

Strategy 3

Strategy 4

Strategy 5

An Introduction to the Small Planet Institute and its’ Mission

 In 1966 award winning author and activist Frances Moore Lappe’ graduated from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.  As an undergraduate student at Earlham she attend a workshop series that included shocking statistical information about the world’s hunger crisis. Also included was information about human habits in the handling of food- covering subject such as over farming, topsoil depletion, food waste, food dispersal, and food inequality.  Her experience attending the series was life changing and stirred Frances to action.  What she came to realize was there was quite a lot of information about the negative effects of the food industry but little-to-no action taken to change these unsustainable habits as a global society. Frances wrote and published her thoughts and practices within a little cookbook called Diet for a Small Planet (1971).  Now a bestseller, her effort is considered the first major book to note the environmental impact of meat production as wasteful and a contributor to global food scarcity. She argued for environmental vegetarianism, which means choosing what is best for the earth and our bodies instead of what commercialism dictates.  Through this she called for daily action, action that reminds us of our power to create a saner world. Diet for a Small Planet was groundbreaking for arguing that world hunger is not caused by a lack of food but by ineffective food policy. In addition to information on meat production and its impact on hunger, the book features simple rules for a healthy diet and hundreds of meat-free recipes. This book began Frances’ long journey into food and environmental activism.  Via twelve published books, countless journal contributions, media interviews, non-profit organization start-ups and hundreds of lectures she has helped define the world food movement.

Along with Frances’ professional life, she also raised a family.  Her son Anthony and daughter Anna, now adults, have been brought up practicing their mothers preaching.  Clearly the apple does not fall far from the tree because as professionals Frances’ children are directly connected to their mother’s mission.  Together Frances and Anna began The Small Planet Institute, a non-profit organization, in 2001.  Anthony and Frances’ partner Richard Rowe are also principal contributors to the institute along with many volunteers, fellows and interns rounding out the staff.  While the institutes’ goals and mission statement does not specifically list the fact, its continual message is always threaded to food, hunger and the environment awareness.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts Small Plant carries out its mission mainly through public outreach using books, articles, speeches, and other media.  Its’ mission statement is quite broad and is a follows:

To help define, articulate, and further an historic transition: a worldwide shift from the dominant, failing notion of democracy as a set of fixed institutions toward democracy understood as a way of life, a culture in which the values of inclusion, fairness and mutual accountability infuse all dimensions of public life. We call this Living Democracy. (Small Planet Institute, 2014)

Goals, Roles and Responsibilities

The Small Planet Institute’s main contribution to adult education stems from their coined phrase Living Democracy.  From the Institute’s first book, Hope’s Edge, the next diet for a small planet (Lappe’ and Lappe’, 2003) and the many books that have followed, the Small Planet Institute reveals how people on every continent are creating living democracies as they discover their power to remake societal rules and norms to serve their widely shared values. Small Planet supports this historic awakening through collaborative public education efforts with colleagues worldwide and through their own books, articles, websites, speeches, and other media.  Hope’s Edge continues where Diet for a Small Planet left off.  Frances and Anna travel the world, discovering practical visionaries who are making a difference in world hunger.  Along with their publications, Frances’ and Anna’s public speaking events and the institute’s wealth of online media resources the Small Planet Institute is disseminating important best practice information based on living examples of food sustainability, better food health/choices, environmental awareness, economic/social equality and living democracy. 

The institute calls its audiences to action “to be a drop in the bucket” (Lappe’, 2011, p. 112). Even though one may feel that their single effort cannot make a difference, the fact is it can and will make a difference with persistence and kindness.  The ripple effect is at work in their example. Small Planet’s dedication to self-empowerment and improvement is evidence of andragogy in practice.  It shows fundamental philosophies of past historically known adult educators such as Myles Horton who approached education from the perspective that every student is a teacher and every individual is a learner (Horton, Kohl and Kohl, 1990).  Also evident is the connection to practices and philosophies of Malcolm Knowles.  Knowles taught us to apply informal adult education by learning about concepts which we already have from past life experiences and applying them to our personal growth. Through this application we are able to educate and develop others by helping them realize what they have learned through self-guidance and reflection. This means as educators we need to create real life scenarios and application that allow learners to problem solve on their own and find solutions so that they are able to learn from what they apply (Smith, 2002). 

Impact and Implications

As with most everything in life there are boundaries and barriers to adult education.  While examining access and opportunities for the Small Planet Institute in reaching their student audience, it is evident that they’ve had their challenges.  Merriam and Brockett (2007) identify four conditions that limit access to adult education: geographic conditions, demographic factors, socioeconomic conditions/education and cultural determinants (p 189-200).  They go on to list several responses within adult education to help solve the dilemmas of access and participation, which include political, educational and technological responses.  Small Plant has positioned it self to overcome these barriers through their many options for accessibility. 

For example Frances has reached large and broad audiences through her book successes.  From her initial following she has been able to grow many different aspect of the institute through public speeches, awareness newsletters, additional book sales, food awareness organizations, and world travel.  Daughter Anna has spun her own take on mother’s food initiative by angling her public lectures and publications on food systems and sustainable food advocacy.  Anna is well published in her own right with books such as Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It and Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen.  Her current project, Food MythBusters is a new collaborative project to bust myths about industrial agriculture and share the positive story of sustainable farming through creative movies, an online action center, and grassroots events. Food MythBusters is an initiative of the Real Food Media Project, directed by Anna, and whose mission is to inspire, educate, and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming.  An example of Anna’s lectures can be view on the following link via TEDxManhattan http://youtu.be/0bop3D7-dDM.  Together Frances and Anne have also co-founded the Small Planet Fund that channeling resources to democratic social movements worldwide.  Taking an account for all the many different approaches implemented by Small Planet Institute to reach adult audiences, it seems that they are making a good effort to cover the four conditions that limit access to adult education through traveling to remote location of the world, online resources, publications, public and university lectures and political involvement.  Frances’ most recent book and lecture tour entitled EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want (2011) is currently appearing on college campuses and public venues across the country.  As an attendee to one of her lecture, I’ve gained much perspective on global food, hunger and environmental awareness.  The following link fantastically shows the development of what the institute calls “The Food Movement” dating from 1966 to the present http://smallplanet.org/food/timeline.  The timeline highlights the major happenings and organizations during the last 4 decades, a testimony to Frances’ work and the Small Planet Institute.  She is a dynamic speaker with a heart and demeanor of openness and kindness.  She instills the same rooted philosophy into The Small Planet Institute and the people with whom she works.

Summarized Comparison

In comparing the Lumina Foundation to the Small Planet Institute many differences are immediately evident.  Lumina is extremely large in structure, size and cash flow giving it a major corporation public appearance, where as Small Planet is very much the opposite.  It is family driven, small in structure, size and cash flow.  Both are tackling extremely important issues; Lumina is an advocate for increasing higher education accessibility to the general public while Small Planet advocates for food, hunger and environmental reform.  Here is a suggested argument. Is either organization promoting a change that is necessary to sustaining life?   Maybe both?  For much of the US population, high education is perceived as an unnecessary luxury.  The same could be said for Small Planet’s sustainable food source initiatives.  Who is to really know if the food movement will effectively decrease world hunger?  There is no question that access to food is a requirement for sustainable life.  From an adult education prospective both are necessary for sustaining life, at least life as we know it.  High education leads individuals and groups to expanded awareness of the world and the problems that we face in overpopulating our “small planet.”  If Frances Moore Lappe’ could not afford to attend undergraduate studies at Earlham College in the 1960s, there may have been no debate on food, hunger and the environment.  The more the world’s population balloons, the more necessity there is for educated adults.  It is life sustaining.

	The Lumina Foundation	Small Planet Institute
Founding Year	2000	2001
Mission and Goals	Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials. (Lumina, 2014)	The Small Planet Institute is a non-profit organization with the slogan “Living Democracy, Feeding Hope.” Its’ advocacy is food, hunger and environment awareness/change.
Roles and Responsibilities	Lumina identifies and supports a proprietary definition of effective practice, through public policy advocacy, and by using communications and convening to build public will for change (Lumina, 2014).	Small Planet Institute is disseminating important best practice information based on living examples of food sustainability, better food health/choices, environmental awareness, economic/social equality and living democracy.
Other Important Information	The Lumina Foundation is a locally founded organization, being based out of Indianapolis, and has made a total of 250 million dollars in Grants	Small Planet Institute is family organized and operated.  It combines older generation values with more youthful approaches hence reaching larger audiences.
Impact	Lumina funding is responsible for the founding of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, KnowHow2GO, and College Productivity	Small Plant is making a global impact via dissemination of food and agricultural best practices based on sustainability and self-activism.
Implications	The Lumina will help increase the percentage of Americans with “High Quality” Degrees and Certifications by the year 2025.	Small Planet’s “drop in the bucket” approach has rallied people to take action on food waste, world hunger and sustainable life styles.

References

Center for American Progress, (2012). Open education resources. Retrieved from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/02/pdf/oer.pdf.

Horton, M., Kohl, J., & Kohl, H., (1990). The long haul: an audiobiography. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Lappe’, F. M., (1971). Diet for a small planet. New York, NY: Ballandine Books

Lappe’, F. M., (2011). EcoMind: changing the way we think, to create the world we want.  New York, NY: Nation Books.

Lappe’, F. M., Lappe’, A., (2003). Hope’s edge, the next diet for a small planet.  New York, NY: Tarcher Books.

Lumina Foundation, (2013). Friendly Forces, focus: Retrieved from http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/focus/2013-06.html

Lumina Foundation, (2014). About us. Retrieved from http://www.luminafoundation.org/about_us/.

Merriam, S.B., & Brockett R.G., (2007), The profession and practice of adult education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Miller, H., (2007). From the ground up. Retrieved from http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/From_the_Ground_Up.pdf

Niederberger, M., (2014). The Lumina Foundation gives cash, guidance to the Pittsburgh promise. Retrieved from http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2013/12/05/The-Lumina-Foundation-gives-cash-guidance-to-the-Pittsburgh-Promise/stories/201312050227

Small Planet Institute, (2014). Small planet mission. Retrieved from http://smallplanet.org/

Smith, M. K. (2002), Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy, the encyclopedia of informal education, Retrieved from www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm.