Greetings to the members of the National Institute for Literacy Poverty 
Race and Literacy Discussion List!

Thanks to Mary Ann Corley for her inspiration to start the Poverty Race and 
Literacy discussion list, and for guiding and taking responsibility for the 
list for the last 5 years.  As she said in her letter to everyone, she 
plans to remain on the list, so, happily, we will not lose her expertise 
and insights.

I am the new moderator of this list, and I would like to briefly introduce 
myself and pose some questions to you so that I can have a better idea of 
who you are and what your expectations and ideas for the list are.

I am not new to this list nor to moderating a list.  I have been the 
moderator for the Workplace Literacy discussion list for several years and 
have been a subscriber and sometime contributor to this list for most of 
its existence. I've been employed at the Center for Literacy Studies, The 
University of Tennessee in Knoxville since 1998, and before that I taught 
adult education in both an evening school setting and a workplace 
setting.  My background and doctorate are in curriculum and instruction, 
and I have experience in program evaluation and staff development at state 
and local levels.  Though none of the areas I have been involved in 
directly refers to how poverty, race, and literacy interact, it seems all 
too obvious to me that they do.  And, although I don't count myself as 
having much professional expertise with poverty and race, I do have a keen 
interest and some personal experience as the adoptive parent of two (now 
grown) African American children.  Because I think there is too little 
attention paid to the important interactions of Poverty, Race, and 
Literacy, I am anxious to encourage discussion and increase list 
membership, and I will welcome suggestions from list members about how 
discussion and membership might be increased.

So----I would like to know the make up of the list membership a little 
better (are you practitioners? administrators? social workers?), and I 
would like for you to feel welcome to make suggestions about what you 
expect and hope for with your list participation.  As a paid moderator, I 
will have some time to give to organizing guest discussion leaders, posting 
information about resources, etc.  And I'm sure your expectations are 
varied as to what you want from the list.  I would appreciate your input, 
so if one of our first discussions is about the future and content of the 
list, it would be quite helpful to me.

My philosophy and style of list moderating is informal, and I see the list 
as a group of professional colleagues that I am privileged to chat with via 
the list.  I hope we will feel free to bounce ideas, even ones that are not 
yet completely crystallized in our own minds, around on the list and get 
the benefit of others' thinking.

There are a few mechanics of discussion list participation that make the 
list more efficient, and you can review them at 
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_guidelines.html
It is a help to make the subject line in a message you submit reflect the 
content of your post.

I'm looking forward to facilitating this list and these discussions, and I 
hope that together we will continue to find participation in the list 
invigorating and worthwhile!

Sincerely,

Donna

Donna JG Brian
Moderator, NIFL Poverty Race and Literacy Discussion List
Center for Literacy Studies at The University of Tennessee
600 Henley Street, Suite 312
Knoxville, TN 37996-4135

865-974-3420 (desk phone) FAX 865-974-3857
djgbrian at utk.edu