HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/2/2024 Item 5a, Bernardi
Bernadette Bernardi <
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:Wednesday October 2, 2024 Item 5.a
Attachments:HRC FUNDING RECONSIDERSTION October 2024.pdf
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Dear HRC Commission Members,
Please see attached document as Literacy for Life’s written comments regarding your meeting
Wednesday October 2, 2024 Item 5.a. Thank you!
Kind Regards,
Bernadette
Bernadette Bernardi
CEO Literacy for Life
bernadette@literacyforlifeslo.org
1
October 1, 2024
Dear HRC Commission Members,
Thank you for your diligent work in reading many worthwhile DEI High-Impact Grant
Applications. I truly appreciate the time and careful evaluation from each of you, as well as the
cooperation and collaboration among all of you, to make these difficult decisions. There are
many worthy DEI impactful programs in SLO City/County, and I am grateful for your dedication
to this cause.
I am writing this email as Literacy for Life's appeal for reconsideration of the Commission
members' decision not to fund or partially fund Literacy for Life's Treasured Objects - Personal
Heritage Stories. I cannot attend the Human Relations Commission's in-person October 2, 2024,
at 5:00 p.m. because I am out of town/state until October 16 to support immediate family.
The description of our proposed program in your preliminary recommendations document states:
“Funds will be used to cover expenses for an art project designed to uplift and bring social
awareness of cause issues impacting equity, communication, and stories of underserved and
underrepresented communities. Funds will cover the collaborative initiative where a tutor and
learner will be invited to select an object that holds personal significance and reflects their
heritage, culture, and family. A professional photographer will capture stills of object, learners,
and tutors resulting in composition, which will then be display ed as an art exhibit." This is an
excellent summary of some essential elements of our proposed DEI High Impact Project. One
crucial element, directly tied to the core of Literacy for Life's mission and to its benefit to our
DEI community, needs to also be stated. That element is that tutors and learners will each
generate a written essay in English. The essays will be displayed with the photographs to tell
why the object is treasured and why it is significant to the chooser's culture and heritage.
Our program teaches adults 16 and older how to improve or learn to read, write, and speak
English, a second language for most of our learners. This commonality, improving or learning
English language skills, brings the diverse cultures Literacy for Life serves together with a
common goal for their benefit and improvement and the benefit and improvement of their chosen
community, resulting in a significant impact on and from a diverse, equitable, and inclusive
society.
Thank you for considering Literacy for Life’s appeal to be funded by the DEI High Impact Grant
for 2024-25.
Respectfully Yours,
Bernadette Bernardi
CEO Literacy for Life