Make the Road New York

ADULT LITERACY
Today, fewer than 10% of immigrant New Yorkers who need adult education programs have access to them. MRNY works to meet this need by providing English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), GED preparation, Civics, Computer Literacy, and Citizenship preparation to over 1,600 immigrant adults annually.

By integrating intensive, rigorous literacy instruction with workshops and trainings focused on the issues most critical to their lives, MRNY increases the capacity of immigrant students to retain or find new employment in this challenging labor market, as well as to support their children's education, improve their health and financial stability, and increase their civic involvement.

We also offer classes combining basic Spanish literacy and English language-learning for students who never learned to read and write in their native language.

Methodology and Approach
Our students are learning in ways that connect the nuts and bolts of language and computers with the issues that are most critical to life in our community. Parent-teacher communication, housing, health care, and voting rights for immigrants are examples of themes around which units are commonly developed, and instructors integrate active members and staff from MRNY advocacy projects into the process of unit planning and implementation.

Demonstrable Educational Gain
Nationally recognized oral proficiency tests and other in-house assessment measures illustrate that those who have attended MRNY classes consistently:

1. Speak, understand, read and write better in English;
2. Gain new word processing and internet navigation skills from Computer Literacy classes;
3. Read and write in Spanish with more comfort and pride than ever before; and
4. Successfully pass their Citizenship exams.

Partnerships and Collaborations
MRNY is proud to be a pilot site of the Plazas Comunitarias program, in collaboration with the Mexican government and New York University's Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, which provides resources for literacy students and those seeking primary and secondary school instruction in Spanish. In addition, MRNY has also been selected by IBM to pilot online resources for adults seeking to improve their English reading and pronunciation. MRNY is a member of the New York Coalition for Adult Literacy, the New York City Education and Training Coalition, and the New York College Transitions Network.

COMMUNITY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
MRNY increases the capacity of immigrant workers to obtain stable and productive jobs in existing, emerging and green industries, while also building the ability of NYC's immigrants to create jobs in their own communities. MRNY's holistic approach to workforce development combines our wealth of support and education services with in-house skills trainings and placement counseling to develop families' and individuals' economic stability. Participants also learn about rights and laws in the workplace so they can stand up for themselves as workers and become better prepared to start their own businesses.

In 2011, our Workforce Development team:

Placed 114 individuals in jobs with an hourly average wage of $12.20;
Trained 333 individuals for job readiness; and
Provided quality one-on-one employment to 370 job seekers.