Organizational announcement: Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages (AAHL)

[McGinnis, Scott]

	On October 18-20, 2002, nearly 300 people gathered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, for the Second National Conference on Heritage Languages in America. The conference brought together heritage language community and school leaders, representatives from pre-K-12 schools and colleges and universities, world-renowned researchers, and federal and state policymakers to plan and lead new initiatives in heritage language development in the United States.

	While the conference in itself can be viewed as a success, it is even more important that we capitalize on the talent of those who attended the conference and their commitment to building on and developing the language proficiency of heritage language speakers in our country. High levels of language proficiency among heritage language speakers will assist in meeting our needs in global economic competitiveness, national security, civic engagement and participation, community leadership, and cultural preservation. To build this national resource, we need policies, strategies, and resources. We also need structures through which we can collaborate to accomplish this vision.

	Accordingly, representatives of the conference organizers, the Center for Applied Linguistics and the National Foreign Language Center, have declared the establishment of the Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages. Over the past several months, a number of preliminary organization-building activities have been undertaken, including the creation of a Web site and an e-mail discussion list. The Web site is already operational at www.cal.org/heritage. If you are not already subscribed to the new list, called heritage-alliance, please contact Scott McGinnis at smcginnis at nflc.org. Unlike this existing heritage-list, which deals with a number of topics in heritage language education, research, publications and jobs, heritage-alliance will be relatively "quiet" and will ONLY be used for official postings related to the Alliance.

	In the months ahead, AAHL activities will include the selection of an action board, and the development of a set of policy statements and activities for the upcoming calendar year.	
	
	Apologies for those of you that will be receiving at the least two copies of this posting, as a slightly revised version of this is also being posted to heritage-alliance. 

	Questions and comments may be directed to Scott McGinnis, at smcginnis at nflc.org.