I’ll be a panelist on a webinar hosted by the National Skills Coalition at noon today, talking about adult education in the context of comprehensive immigration reform. Depending on the questions we get, I may post some followup info here later this afternoon.
Immigration
Big Boost in Adult Education Funding for Undocumented Immigrants in New York City
According to this article in the New York Times, New York City plans to spend $18 million over the next two years to help young unauthorized immigrants qualify for a temporary reprieve from deportation under federal government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) rules.
The Times reports that this money will add 16,000 seats (!) to adult education programs throughout the city, with priority for those slots given to immigrants who appear to qualify for DACA.
House Appears to Have No Interest in Fixing Green Card Backlog
An article in yesterday’s New York Times makes the important point that while the plan to provide a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants received more attention, a much bigger chunk of the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill is concerned with reforming legal immigration—which includes not only measures to clear the current green card backlog, but also to shift the immigration system to more of a merit-based system focused more on education and job skills.
But here again, the House is having none of that:
None of several smaller measures recently approved by House committees deal with fixing the visa system, and a bipartisan House bill similar to the Senate’s has stalled. For many House conservatives, the increase in legal immigration under the Senate plan is nearly as objectionable as the promise of citizenship for immigrants here illegally. (my emphasis)
National Skills Coalition Calls for Strong Investments In Skills to Accompany Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Recently I had the opportunity to work with the National Skills Coalition (NSC) on developing a proposal to significantly expand federal investment in adult education and training as part of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). Most of us who work in adult education or workforce development think it’s likely that CIR will cause a significant increase in demand for adult education—not just by currently undocumented immigrants seeking to learn English, but also for many U.S. citizens and legal residents in the current workforce who will be under increasing pressure to upgrade their skills in response to the labor market changes that CIR will produce. Our report, Comprehensive Immigration Reform: A Proposal for a Skills Strategy that Supports Economic Growth and Opportunity, was released earlier this week.
NSC is, naturally, very employment-focused in their view of adult education. What I think is unique about this proposal, and something I’m particularly proud of, is how we attempted to outline an overarching strategy that recognizes the need for an integrated approach to meeting this likely growth in demand. So, for example, the report calls for expanding English language learning for all immigrants while investing more in integrated basic skills and vocational training for the existing workforce—and to do it in a systematic way that leverages the adult education system we have now.
The report also proposes to accomplish this within the framework of the current Senate immigration reform legislation, but without increasing the overall cost of the bill.
It was a pleasure to work with NSC on this proposal. If you have any comments or questions about it, I’d love to hear from you.
Literacy & Policy 