[GLC] Fw: NYC Immigrants Demand Funds...
DAVID GREENE
Eagle3372 at msn.com
Thu Jun 29 05:41:45 EDT 2006
IPA NY Voices That Must Be HeardFrom: David Greene
To: Grassroots Literacy Coalition
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 5:45 AM
Subject: NYC Immigrants Demand Funds...
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NYC immigrants demand funds for English and legal services
By Eva Sanchis, El Diario / La Prensa, 13 June 2006. Translated from Spanish by Chris Brandt.
The community organizations that offer classes in English and legal services for immigrants received $9.1 million from the City this year. Nevertheless, in the preliminary budget for 2007, which is supposed to be approved before July, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has included zero dollars for these services, sorely vexing these organizations.
In a protest held yesterday at City Hall, about 100 immigrants and representatives from different community organizations emphasized the need for the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative (IOI) in New York City where, according to the 2000 census, more than 2.9 million immigrants live.
The groups, demanding $10 million, pointed out the scarcity of English classes and legal and translation services for an immigrant community that has grown by 800,000 people in the past decade.
Around one million New Yorkers do not know English, or do not know it well, according to the census.
Ana María Archila, executive director of the Centro de Integración Latinoamericana (Latin American Integration Center), explained that without such support, her organization will be unable to offer English classes or legal assistance at its center in Staten Island, the only one of its kind in the borough.
Archila's association accepted $140,000 from the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative last year. More than 350 people took English classes at its Staten Island center and some 150 immigrants - most of them undocumented - got legal assistance there and at another center, the organization maintains in Queens.
She stated that the financial uncertainty that the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative faces every year threatens the survival of those services. The program was created in 2002 with a budget of $2.5 million that funded services at 43 organizations. The city's financing of the Initiative was maintained at under $2.8 million until 2006, when the mayor and the City Council reached an agreement to provide $9.1 million for the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative, which allowed the participating organizations to increase to 130.
"The problem with this budget dance is that we have no certainty whether we will be able to continue until June 30," said Archila. "That makes it hard to find teachers, and we also lose excellent teachers."
Councilmember Kendall Stewart (D-NY 45th District), chairman of the Immigration Committee, thinks it likely that the program will be funded at $10 million because it has the support of Council President Christine Quinn, and the city has a budget surplus.
Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for Bloomberg, confirmed that the mayor would be disposed to fund the initiative if the City Council considers it a priority "because it's an important issue."
This article appeared in Edition 225<http://www.indypressny.org/?Edition=225> of Voices That Must Be Heard.
Translation © 2006, IPA, all rights reserved. Included by permisson of El Diario / La Prensa.
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