SoBRO: South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation

SoBRO Contact:
Ayca Ergeneman, Vice President of Development, 718-732-7520

NYCAL CONTACTS:
Anthony Ng, United Neighborhood Houses, 917-723-4607
Bruce Carmel, Turning Point, 646-522-8889

NEW YORK COALITION FOR ADULT LITERACY & SoBRO
Media Advisory

1,000 to Rally Against Devastating Adult Literacy Cuts
14,000 New Yorkers Impacted by Mayor’s Cuts
Literacy Programs at 100 NYC Nonprofits at Stake

SoBRO staff and students will be among the estimated 1,000 individuals to rally in support of adult literacy education tomorrow at New York City Hall. Around 200 students from SoBRO Adult Basic Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages, and Pre-GED classes will attend the rally. SoBRO staff—about 10 of whom will join the students—have spent days making t-shirts and coining slogans such as “Education is Our Right / And for that We’re Going to Fight!” and “No Education, No Jobs, No Money, No Future,” and putting them on signs to wave at the rally. At the very moment that these services are needed most, SoBRO students will fight to sustain these courses that pave the way for a better life for so many underprivileged New Yorkers.

SoBRO Adult Basic Education instructor Jose Tavarez, who won a teaching award from the Mayor’s Office of Adult Education in 2008, will also speak at the rally.

WHAT:
Rally where adult students and community leaders from the five boroughs will urge the city to restore nearly $12 million in cuts threatening literacy and English instruction for more than 14,000 New Yorkers.

The cuts would severely damage the nonprofit infrastructure through which adult basic education and English classes are offered to all New Yorkers.

WHEN:
Thursday, June 3rd at 11 am

WHERE:
City Hall Park, Lower Manhattan
Trains: N, R, 4, 5, 6 to City Hall; 2, 3 to Park Place

WHO:
Elected officials, hundreds of multi-lingual adult education students from the five boroughs, and community leaders.

WHY:
Despite huge demand for adult education and training opportunities in New York City, fewer than 60,000 seats in free or low-cost public adult literacy and ESL classes are available, leaving over 97 percent of the need unmet. Investing in adult literacy and English classes costs relatively little but pays huge dividends in terms of New Yorkers’ ability to climb the economic ladder toward better jobs and better lives.

In his executive budget, the mayor proposed $11.68 million in cuts to ESOL and adult literacy programs, slashing $5.18 million from DYCD Adult Literacy Programs and eliminating the $5 million Immigrant Opportunities Initiative and the $1.5 million Adult Literacy Services Initiative. This comes on top of proposed cuts to GED Testing Sites ($1.15 million) and Adult Literacy Education funding ($2.6 million) in the state budget. If these proposed cuts go through, there will be fewer classes for students, and the programs that remain will become further strained in meeting the needs of New Yorkers seeking literacy instruction.

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