To the Editor:
Please attend town meetings to cast your vote to support adult and community education on Martha’s Vineyard because:
1. Adult education is an investment in the Island’s future. We provide job skills training, certificate courses, GED, college preparatory classes, college courses and enrichment without the burden of off-Island travel.
2. Enrollment in Adult and Community Education (ACE MV), the Island’s current program, has doubled in six years, evidence of a growing public need. To continue providing this array of courses and opportunities an adequate professional staff is needed.
3. As the 65-plus age group is predicted to triple between 2000 and 2030 to account for one-third of the Martha’s Vineyard population, it is essential to create intergenerational programs for lifelong learning and more inclusive community engagement.
4. Because adult education is a vital program of social and economic value for all Martha’s Vineyard, the proposed one-year contract requires the support of each town to move forward.
5. The cost amounts to less than $6 per Martha’s Vineyard resident older than 18.
Lynn Ditchfield
Director
For Board Members and Friends of ACE MV
Edgartown
