Will Help Immigrants Learn Language
The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) announced that LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City is among three national re-granting partners for the En Camino Initiative, made possible with funding from MetLife Foundation.
LaGuardia has received $25,000 grants to further the work on college and career readiness and contribute to the national initiative.
Over several years, NCFL has researched and documented best practices of community colleges in cultivating the enrollment and supporting the progress of former family literacy students. Recently NCFL has partnered with school districts, community colleges, and non- profits addressing family literacy and college going needs to explore how the En Camino Initiative’s resources can be used most effectively in practice.
These resources, titled “En Camino: Herramientas educativas para familias/On Our Way: Educational Toolkit for Families,” can be found at www.famlit.org/myfamilygoestocollege.
NCFL and the three grantees are building upon the achievements of this initiative by creating innovative and practical extensions of these online resources-which are available in Spanish and English-as well as providing helpful information for families on Common Core State Standards and college and career readiness.
LaGuardia Community College’s Center for Immigrant Education and Training and Pre-College Academic Programming department are partnering on this project with Make the Road New York, a non-profit community based organization, to expand college awareness among immigrant families and further educate ABE and ESOL professionals in effective teaching methods that prepare students for college.
“LaGuardia has always served as a pathway to college and a better life for immigrants and their families,” said Dr. Gail O. Mellow, president of LaGuardia Community College. “The commitment and support we have received from NCFL and MetLife Foundation in building bridges to college and careers validates our success in this area and allows us to continue not only educating families but also better preparing teachers and professionals who make it their goal to get these students on their way to a brighter future.”
“We are thrilled to be able to continue our partnership with Make the Road New York in order to serve additional immigrant families with college planning workshops and to provide further professional development for adult educators around the city,” said John Hunt, director of La- Guardia’s Center for Immigrant Education and Training, which provides English and civics, immigrant family literacy, parent leadership, and integrated workforce programs for English language learners.
“Make the Road New York works hard to offer transformative educational programming to Latino immigrant families across New York. This collaboration with NCFL, MetLife and LaGuardia provides our English language students and parent activists with the tools they need to move themselves and their children closer to college and to career advancement,” said Theo Oshiro, deputy director of Make the Road New York.
