Before coming to CIE, Bonnie was a PCV in Honduras in the early 1970s where she worked on literacy and adult education. She then worked with several organizations in Washington, D.C. She was a Senior Associate with Creative Associates where she was a manager of the NFE and adult education group, working in various countries.
She enrolled in a Master’s degree program at CIE in 1976, but then took leave to work on projects in a variety of countries including Lesotho, Botswana, Yemen, Bolivia and Honduras.
From 1983 to 2002 she was president of the Bulletin Board Corporation (also known as BJ Cain & Associates, Inc.) The corporation published a variety of conference newspapers, a web magazine, newsletters, and multi-media information campaigns like radionovelas, pamphlets and posters. For 9 years during the 1990s, she was the publisher of The Bulletin Board, a local newspaper for Ward One communities. In 1999 she worked as the special assistant to a City Council Member preparing reports on various education issues.
In 2003 she said I am returning to finish my program after 18 years of being "out in the world.” As my son matured, I found that I became more and more interested in working on issues of education in the United States, particularly public education in Washington, DC, where my husband and I had settled. Her dissertation reflected this interest. It explored the conditions of competition between different types of schools in Washington, D.C. to evaluate the idea that market-based school reform will improve schools.
While at CIE she became actively involved with NFE and its different educational media formats. She worked with John Comings to produce a report for USAID titled Photonovels, Comics and Graphic Literature—Popular Print Media for Development. A companion article on Photo Literature was published by CIE. They are among many reports and articles she has written on NFE media and participatory education.
From 2002 onwards, she also worked as Policy Analyst for the Washington, D.C. Board of Education. Her responsibilities included analyzing policy issues, providing information to Board members, doing public relations work about special education, prevention of harassment, and other student service issues. Again, in her own words: The complexities of urban education, as well as urban politics and life, has been the focus of my work, during which time I have published a local newspaper, continued consulting in both the US and abroad and worked for several city council members and school board members.
Bonnie continues to live in Washington, D.C. [4-24]
Email: bonniejcain@gmail.com