Exciting news from our friends at Media Literacy Now:

Connecticut becomes the 4th state to introduce media literacy legislation through the work of Media Literacy Now and our partners.

Qur-an Webb is taking the lead on the legislative effort in Connecticut. He has extensive experience working with youth and is a social work supervisor with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. He is co-founder of Welcome 2 Reality LLC.

With the help of Welcome 2 Reality cofounder Anthony Gay and the support of Media Literacy Now, Webb worked with state senator Terry Gerratana for the introduction of Senate Bill 62. This bill would require the state Board of Education to support local and regional boards of education in offering media literacy education as part of the public school curriculum.

Welcome 2 Reality elevates the public’s awareness of the impact of social media and technology on today’s society through seminars, outreach presentations, and lectures. They are currently filming a documentary, Welcome to Reality: Let’s Sing, Rap & Talk About It, to address the messages in current music and music videos.

Media Literacy Now was founded to build awareness of the urgent need for media literacy education, and to assist groups and individuals to work with their state lawmakers to introduce legislation and advocate for policy change. We are working in a number of new states this year, and we’ll let you know more about that progress soon!

Other policy news: New York, Massachusetts reintroduce legislation, New Jersey continues to move forward.

In Massachusetts, Sen. Dan Wolf has joined with Rep. Dave Rogers to sponsor our media literacy bill. Rep. Rogers continues his strong support for Media Literacy in the House, while. Sen. Wolf has stepped into the lead Senate sponsor role after our original sponsor, Katherine Clark, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.  Sen. Wolf is very enthusiastic about our mission and about joining with Rep. Rogers to lead this effort in the state legislature.

MLN Chapter President Leanne McGowan continues her advocacy work in New Jersey, convening meetings with key stakeholders in that state to move forward with media literacy bill S. 1761, introduced last year by Sen. Diane Allen.