TESTIMONY
Lena Cohen, Representative from United Neighborhood Houses, on Addressing Adult Literacy and Supporting Immigrant Families
4:05:41
·
165 sec
Lena Cohen highlights critical issues affecting New York City's immigrant population, focusing on adult literacy education and supports for immigrant families.
- Cohen brings attention to the nearly 1,000,000 adults in NYC lacking English proficiency and critiques the Department of Youth and Community Development's (DYCD) RFP structure.
- She advocates for expanding resources rather than reallocating them to meet the increased demand for adult literacy education.
- The urgent need for sustained funding for the Promise NYC program, providing subsidized childcare to undocumented children, is emphasized.
- Cohen highlights the challenges posed by the 60-day shelter stay limit for asylum-seeking families and calls for additional city support.
- Urges the city council to pressure the DYCD for effective adult literacy procurement and expresses commitment to collaborate on early childhood education initiatives.
Lena Cohen
4:05:41
Good afternoon, chair, Avilis.
4:05:44
My name is Lena Cohen.
4:05:46
I'm here representing United Neighborhood Houses.
4:05:48
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
4:05:51
UNH is a policy and social change organization.
4:05:54
We represent 46 settlement houses, 40 of which are in York City, and altogether, our members touched the lives of 765,000 New Yorkers each year.
4:06:05
Today, I wanna draw your attention to critical issues affecting our city's immigrant population, and I wanna begin with adult literacy education.
4:06:14
With nearly 1,000,000 adults in New York City lacking proficiency in English, DYCD has a chance to address this through its open RFP, which I know that you're familiar with chair.
4:06:26
However, its two tiered structure, which my colleague, Ira, just walked through, may inadvertently exclude many current providers.
4:06:35
Jeopardizing services for thousands of learners.
4:06:38
We recognize DYCD's efforts to increase adult literacy services in parts of the city that may never have had them before, but we cannot do that at the expense of the current students that are utilizing these programs.
4:06:52
In light of increasing demand for literacy services, especially with new asylum seekers in the city, we must focus on growing the system overall rather than rearranging resources.
4:07:03
Furthermore, our immigrant families face a dire need for affordable childcare, we're grateful to the council for supporting the promised NYC program, which has been a lifeline offering subsidized childcare to undocumented children, but funding is set to expire, leaving families in their state of limbo, which they're in right now.
4:07:24
So we're asking the city to invest 20,000,000 in the fiscal year 2025 budget to sustain Promise NYC.
4:07:33
Additionally, the 60 day limit on shelter stays for asylum seeking families has really exacerbated changes.
4:07:39
As I know you're familiar with, We've seen it disrupt children's education.
4:07:43
We've seen it disrupt family stability.
4:07:46
We urge the city to provide additional support including transportation assistance and streamlined enrollment processes to ensure these families receive the care they deserve.
4:07:57
So in closing, thank you again for this opportunity to speak.
4:08:01
UNH is proud to stand with our partners in urging the the city council to continue putting pressure on dycd to make sure that this forthcoming adult literacy procurement is as successful as we need it to be.
4:08:16
And we look forward to collaborating on early childhood education and ensuring that families have a stable path forward to stay in the city.
4:08:25
Thank you.
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Ira Yankwitt, Executive Director, Literacy Assistance Center on the Impact of Adult Literacy Funding Practices
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Sierra Kraft, Executive Director, Immigrant Children Advocates' Relief Effort (ICARE) Coalition on Advocating for Legal Services for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children