By Madina Toure
Thanks to a $25,000 grant from state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), the Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York will now be able to connect immigrants with job opportunities throughout New York City.
The project seeks to address the issue of immigrants who face challenges when they are trying to enter a new job market. The organization would put them in contact with potential employment opportunities.
The organization first tests the English proficiency of their participants. If a participant scores below an intermediate level, the participant is referred to the ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) courses run by the organization. They would then complete one semester of ESOL.
Avella put in various groups that should receive funding in the 2016-2017 state budget and the KCSMNY was one of them.
He said groups that appeal to specific ethnic groups do not necessarily receive mainstream funding, an issue that he sought to address.
“A lot of the ethnic groups that deal with specific populations have not been able to get the same type of funding as a normal senior center would get or a regular service-oriented group mainly because they’re not connected to the process as sometimes other mainstream groups,” he said. “It’s time to enable them to get into the political process and in the funding process that I’ve been working on for the past few years.”
KCSMNY’s Executive Director Linda Lee, Development Officer Annie Shin and Executive Administrator Bora Lee received the check on behalf of President Kwang Kim.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
