| Advocates Rally Against Cuts to Adult Literacy |
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| Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:33 |
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Hundreds of adult education students and representatives of community organizations gathered at Travers Park in Jackson Heights, Queens, this morning where they urged the state and the city to restore recent cuts to adult literacy and job training programs for more than one million New Yorkers who need basic skills, a GED and help learning English.
The proposed State executive budget cuts more than $2 million for Adult/Literacy Education (ALE) services, a source of funding that enables hundreds of organizations to support workforce development through Basic Education, GED and ESL classes in New York City. The crisis facing immigrant communities is further exacerbated by the State’s proposal to deeply cut the only two immigrant-specific programs offered by the state—the NYS Refugee Assistance Program and the NYS Citizenship Initiative— by over 20% and 50% respectively.
“Immigrant workers who are still learning English are woven into the fabric of the economy and are a large proportion of the labor force, yet classes to help immigrant and other low-skilled workers are about to be slashed,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.
“The $2 million in proposed cuts to ALE would put hundreds of Make the Road New York’s students out on the street without a class, said Julie Quinton, Director of Adult Literacy at Make the Road New York, which currently offers seven English classes to Latin American immigrants that are supported through New York State’s Adult Literacy Education (ALE) funds.
"The proposed budget cuts in New York State's Adult Literacy Education (ALE) funding could mean the elimination of more than a half dozen classes next year, leaving hundreds of Queens parents, workers and community members without access to crucial training programs at a time of economic crisis when they will need them most,” said John Hunt, Associate Director of the Center for Immigrant Education and Training (CIET) in LaGuardia Community College's Adult and Continuing Education Division.
"Our member agencies see immigrant workers in industries such as construction and day labor facing job loss and reduced work hours in this economic downturn," said Anthony Ng, Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy, United Neighborhood Houses. “ESOL and adult education classes are critical to helping one keep their job and remain competitive in the job market. Funding for these classes must be restored and expanded to ensure a strong workforce that will help New York's economy recover.”
Advocates argue that over 1.5 million NYC residents 16 years of age or older are out of school and do not have a high school diploma; more than 20 percent of New York State’s population is foreign-born (twice the national average); and more than one million New Yorkers are not yet proficient in English. But despite the vast need for adult education and training opportunities for immigrants and other adults—especially during these difficult times--fewer than 60,000 spaces in free or low-cost government-funded adult literacy/ESL classes are available – leaving over 97 percent of the need for adult education classes unmet.
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