From The Integration of Dominican, Chinese, Russian and Mexican Immigrants in NYC
This is the placeholder page for education issues.
Contents |
Dominican Immigrants
The educational attainment of Dominicans in the United States is among the lowest of all foreign born groups (The Dominican Studies Institute at City College 2000). Where as Native-born New Yorkers graduate from high school at a rate of 78.4% , Dominican immigrants only graduate at a rate of 43.8% (Newest New Yorkers, 2000). Additionally, only 10.6% go on to graduate from college (Newest New Yorkers, 2000). As a result, Dominican immigrants face challenges in attaining educational incorporation. The schools they attend are generally in low-income and high crime areas, such as Washington Heights. They also contain poorly qualified teachers with high staff turnovers. However, there is a strong emergence of the 2nd Generation breaking away from these trends. College graduation rate for 2nd Generation Dominicans have gradually increased with 31.7% in 1980, 42.8% in 1990, and 55.1% in 2000. Let's see how community based organizations help deal with Dominican educational attainment challenges:
The Dominican Studies Institute at City College
At the Dominican Studies Institute, we interviewed Utku Sezgin. Mr. Sezgin is a research fellow for the Institute and a former professor for IDC. Mr. Sezgin imparted that before the 1990's, the Dominicans were a largely ignored immigrant group in terms of research. The Institute was founded in 1992 by the Council of Dominican Educators. Most importantly, the Institute produces data and publications about Dominicans in NYC and the United States. Mr. Sezgin claims beyond raising awareness, the Institute provides data for community based organizations to use. Although he did not have specific figures as to who uses their information, he connected an important link in how research helps the integration process as well. There is a strong connection between research and community based organizations in that research helps organizations foresee trends in the immigrant population that it must attend to and helps approximate numbers for projects and funding. He also said that the second generations of Dominicans is overcoming education obstacles are doing better than the first generation. Furthermore, he claimed that Dominicans were as a whole faring far better off than Native-born minorities such as African Americans.
Alianza Dominicana, Inc.
The staff at Alianza Dominicana, Inc. related that it has many programs which seek to help all immigrants in need. It seemed, however, that the predominate population using Alianza's services was Dominican and Latin American although there are other majority populations in the neighborhood. She mentioned that Alianza promotes educational attainment for all ages. Alianza refers their clients to different programs based on the their specific integration needs. Some of these programs are:
• La Familia Unida Day Care, which we interviewed, offers day care service that provides early childhood education of various topics, including languages and cultures.
• United Way funded project at P.S. 153 motivates at-risk youth to stay in school through various means of help, such as home visits, family counseling, attendance monitoring, etc.
• La Plaza Beacon School and Cornerstone Initiative at Dyckman offer after school programs to give adolescent students tutoring and homework.
• Learning to Work @ Innovation Diploma Plus HS provides supportive services, and college and career awareness to participants at Brandeis High School.
Alianza Dominicana La Familia Unida Day Care Center
“As a model bilingual, bicultural program, Alianza Dominicana La Family Unida Day Care Center strongly encourages early childhood education,” Simona Santos, Educational Director, said. She explained that through bilingual programs, children at early ages learn different languages and come to understand different cultures as well.
Dominican Women’s Development Center
Researchers have reported that the proportion of highly educated Dominicans is greater among the migrant community than among island Dominicans. In the group of Dominicans who entered the United States between 1986 and 1991, majority were professionals with high educational attainment of either undergraduate or graduate college degrees. However, as Xiomara Santoz-Abre explained, they struggle with language barrier and fail to continue their education in United States. In order to help these immigrants, Dominican Women’s Development Center offers various Educational Development programs to promote English language proficiency and provide participants with the basic educational skills needed to secure employment or pursue higher education. These programs include: ESL classes, GED preparation classes, Literacy Skill Development classes, and many more. Xiomara expressed her concern that cultural differences between Americans and Dominicans often cause immigrants troubles, even for children and youth at schools. She explained that since the American educational system is impartial to these differences, most Dominican students are seen as troublesome delinquents and neglected by schools.
The Latino Commission on AIDS
The Latino Commission on AIDS offers similar services to ALIANZA HOPE in that it provides HIV testing and education to Lesbians, Gays and Transgenders of the Latin American Community in New York. Since Dominicans represent the largest foreign source group of Latin Americans in New York, the Commission was a great place to see how community based organizations help with integration challenges. At the Commission Matt Law and Sara spoke to Andrew Spieldenner, PhD - Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation. Mr. Spieldenner reminded us that immigrants face multiple challenges while trying to integrate. He said, “As an HIV organization most of our clients are dealing with multiple stigmas-immigration, gay or transsexual identity, and HIV.” His statement was important in that it imparted that integration challenges are not simple, but multi-faceted and overlapping. Specifically in terms of education, the Commission works to educate people about safe sex and prevention. It also hosts substance abuse and treatment classes for people dealing with addiction. An interesting fact in New York and for the Clinic is that immigrants can still receive treatment for HIV regardless of their documentation status. Despite this, Andrew said that a large challenge the organization faces is the religious backlash from people in Hispanic communities. Therefore, the Commission tries to work with willing churches to raise awareness about HIV and ways it can be prevented.
Chinese Immigrants
Brooklyn Chinese-American Association on Education. by: Jerrica Williams.
I interviewed Carol Wu on April 27th, 2010.
The majority of the Chinese immigrants that come to the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association have very low education skills. Almost all have no more than a high school education. Many did not even finish high school. Because of their low education levels, the immigrants they help have very low incomes. Most receive food stamps. The BCA offers early childhood, youth, and adult education services. There are more than 300 children enrolled in their pre-Kindergarten program. BCA began the Chinese Cultural School in 1997 for youth students, which teaches mostly Chinese language for students, including some Non-Chinese students as well. The number of enrolled students depends on the location, but more children are enrolled in the lower levels.The NYS Department of Education provided the BCA a grant to the Adult Basic Education and the English Literacy/Civics Program. BCA feels the need to really help these immigrants with low education skills to make their living here more beneficial to their lives.
Chinese-American Planning Council Youth Services
Interview with the Director of Youth Services for the Chinese-American Planning Council, Edgar Pereira on April 29,2010
About the Youth Services Program:
The Chinese-American Planning Council Youth Services is a program for adolescents provided by the non-profit organization C.P.C. Approximately 90% of the people who seek its services are Chinese Immigrants. The Youth Services program focuses on providing young Chinese immigrants with an opportunity to do something useful with their time instead of falling into the wrong crowd. Mr. Pereira said he often sees a change in those who participate in the programs and they often learn to be more sociable and comfortable.
What they provide:
The programs provided by the Youth Services range from prevention programs to training programs. Some of the programs include The Summer Youth Employment Program, the In-School Youth Program, and the OST Program At Utrecht High-School. The Summer-Youth Program provides work experience during the summer. Volunteers work in different areas such as childcare and private and public companies. The In-School Youth Program provides high-school juniors and seniors with paid work experience, workshops, job training, resume writing, and interview skills. OST Program At Utrecht High-School provides after-school youth activities such as emotional and social support as well as academic support.
Problems they face:
Often it is difficult to help undocumented immigrants with employment opportunities but they are never turned away from using their resources. It is also difficult for the Chinese-American Planning Council to obtain funding. They receive hardly any public funding and 96% of their budget is funded by the government (federal, state, and local.)
'"The Greater Chinatown Community Association'"
Interview With Head Secretary Vivian Lo
The Greater Chinatown Community Association (GCCA) stresses the fact that limited English proficiency is the biggest obstacle standing in the way of immigrant integration.
As Ms. Lo put it, they use their resources, dedicated staff and years of experience to provide individualized programs that target the specific needs of the undeserved chinese immigrant population in NYC. Ms. Lo talked about the difficulty language specifically poses on these immigrants and how densely foreign born populated neighborhoods such as Chinatown hinder their ability to learn English. For this reason, she said, they employ programs that include both english classes and basic education classes in the native language.
I asked Ms. Lo whether she thought the basic education classes, which include math and computer skills, and are taught in Chinese are the best way to help the immigrant population assimilate. She answered by pointing out that while they are in the process of learning the English language, the immigrant population needs to find jobs to support themselves. In order to get a job, they need to learn the skills necessary, even if that means learning them in their native language.
When asked about any other unique programs that the GCCA offers, Ms. Lo mentioned a healthcare system that is offered only by the GCCA in chinatown. Complimentary weekly massages and acupuncture are offered to the elderly, while medical doctors also volunteer during the week for standard check-ups.
Ms. Lo then also spoke to me about a Tai-Chi instructor that offered classes to the elderly. She said that this is a very popular program among the elderly in the community.
Like several other foundations similar to the GCCA, they offer guidance and personal tutoring in preparation for the naturalization test and process.
Alexander Greetham Interview with Sonja Choi of the AAFNY
Sonja Choi is a communications associate in the nonprofit field. She coordinates events, like the press conference the AAFNY had this morning with the census bureau. The AAFNY 42 member Pan-Asian agency.
How does your organization help improve the practices of the various businesses that come to the organization for help?
The organization has contact with businesses, sponsors, but she doesn’t necessarily deal with necessarily human services
What kind of advocacy does your organization do for the welfare of Asian Americans?
The organization deals with the well-being, Asian Americans by, more than anything, raising awareness. Her latest report was on the poverty of many Asian-Americans, and it was pretty in-depth, and meant, more than anything, to raise awareness.
What sort of philanthropic work have donors done for your organization?
Actually, a lot of people inquire about ways to volunteer, get involved, etc. The AAFNY’s role is not to do direct service but to act as a middle person. Donors have raised awareness and money with smaller agencies. It is hard to get money for big donors
For the Coalition for New Philanthropy, again, what work have philanthropists done for the organizations that are part of the coalition?
I can’t really say on behalf of other minorities in the Coalition.
The organizations are part of the coalition, but it is not my area. The other agencies are part of an umbrella group, that is, the AAFNY. The website has a list of other groups that are part of said umbrella.
What sort of work has your organization done to help with poverty among Asian Americans?
The most important thing was to really make a big step in creating awareness of poverty. Many are unaware of the problem. A recent investigative news report has been done about this problem, and it was featured on Fox News. Also, because of this report, the governor’s office held a special meeting with community leaders to discuss these problems. However, politics moves slowly, and she is not sure if any further movements have been made
What sorts of fields do the groups under your umbrella specialize in?
There are 42 agencies, a lot of them being specialized. There are probably 5 or 6 agencies specializing in domestic violence victims consultation alone because it is a big problem in Asian-American communities. Other organizations specialize in elderly service, providing day centers, to allow seniors to socialize with each other, and taking the seniors on outings, lunches, etc. However, these agencies are not living situations, i.e., retirement homes.
Do you have any relations with the University Settlement?
No, but we have relations with the Hamilton Madison house, a settlement house with a 90-something year history. It is interesting to note that the population has changed throughout the years, like University Settlement. At first, the house was predominantly Italian and Jewish. Now, it’s mainly Chinese. The needs of the people have changed have changed with the change of immigrant populations in the area.
What other political issues does your organization raise awareness for?
The AAFNY has two main projects: the Census and elderly suicide prevention. Once the census campaign settles down. the AAFNY will move into helping with poverty, people who live alone, don’t speak English, and help in language translation. The AAFNY also helps licensed social workers, giving them prep classes for Asian students. They do this because they have found that oftentimes, Asian students don’t pass the test because these classes were not designed with Chinese immigrants in mind. When it comes to non-citizen voting rights, we do not do anything, but some organizations in our umbrella advocate for said rights.
What percentage of Asian Americans fill out the census?
67% of Asian Americans fill out the census, but there is no way of knowing how many Asians have participated in the current census until the census is counted.
What does your organization do to help register Asian American voters?
The AAFNY does not help register voters itself, but other organizations get people to register to vote, such as the MINKWON Center for community action. We don’t know the percentage of those who vote, but for more information, Asian demographic data can be found at the AAFNY website.
Mexican Immigrants
The Board of Education
In New York City, free public education is supplied from grades Pre-k through 12th grade. All residents of the five boroughs can attend any school throughout the city of New York. A tool that the city offers to immigrants are classes called English as a Second Language, or ESL classes. I do not specifically say they offer ESL classes to Mexican immigrants because the Board of ED is non-discriminatory towards any race, religion, or culture.
 Mrs. Maria Bermudez |
 Miss Sandra Lee-Kim |
 Miss Kimberly Kissag |
P.S. 212Q
Located in Jackson Heights, P.S. 212 has a strong Hispanic population, primarily composed of Mexican immigrants. 79.8% of the school's population rely on the ESL program. Four professionals in the field of ESL voiced their opinions, concerns, and trends that they have seen through their experiences.
Integration of ESL students There are 3 different classroom settings an immigrant child can enter as seen below.
In the above illustration, the first setting is a non ESL class, where the next two are ESL classroom settings.
There are several varying opinions amongst the 4 teachers interviewed as to which classroom setting is better. Mrs Bermudez, who immigrated to the United States at age 8, was surrounded by only English speaking students in class, therefore agreeing that the first situation is an effective method. She also believes that of the 2 ESL options, a mixture of languages in one classroom is most beneficial because "It forces the students to speak English. If they want to communicate, the only commonality to converse with one another is through English." Miss Kim agrees with Mrs. Bermudez, but Miss Kassag had a slightly different opinion. Although she is an advocate of ESL classes, she thinks that it is more helpful to an ESL student to not be around English speaking students. "It's important for these student to learn proper English, and if they're around the general education students, then they won't be hearing the language spoken properly."
The Primary Focus of ESL Classes
Education is a great resource in the assimilation process because it is one of the quickest ways to learn the language, a key component to assimilation in New York City, and be around New York City culture. The thought behind ESL classes is that a teacher will teach non-english speaking student through repetition of commands in conjunction with acting out said command. For example, if asked to take out a book, the teach will repeat "Please, take out your book," while reaching over to retrieve a book.
ESL classes vs. Bilingual Classes
Out of all four teacher interviewed, the consensus was unanimous that ESL classes are more effective than the old method of Bilingual classes. 'Although you can communicate to a child easier in their native language, there is a greater tendency for a teacher to 'baby' the child, therefore making the learning process longer,' says ESL teacher of 14 years, Maria Bermudez. Miss Kassag did mention a case where bilingual learning maybe more useful to a Non-English speaking student.
Overall Effectiveness
There are several factors that can make an ESL program work. These are the teachers and the home life. As Miss Kim explained to me "The city has set up the program and that's that. It's as if it said 'Here, we understand the need to help immigrant children, and this is what we're going to do about it,' then the city decided to walk away. Teacher training programs are set up, but there is never any follow up to see if a teacher is doing a good job." I also discussed with Miss Kassag about the attention given to ESL classes. General education classes are constantly being revamped to find the best curriculum, but ESL style of teaching has remained unchanged. Below is an excerpt of a letter that Caren Miller wrote.
Flaws of the System
All the work that teachers put in can be dismissed easily. The City relies on home life to help the student's learning, but how often can an immigrant parent help their child? Depending on home life, a child can flourish or fail. Through her 17 years of teaching, Mrs. Bermudez has seen a difference in Mexican immigrant children in the learning process. "In South America the political unrest isn't as high as it is in Mexico, so home life is a little more structured than the Mexicans." This trend is prevalent in any group that has parents who work several jobs, have siblings who act as parents, or who have young students. Does the System Set Up for Failure?
The question posed is a valid question. Every year, ESl children must take a test called the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT). Some facts about the test:
- The length of the test is too long, leaving students to get restless
- There is one test per every two grades, therefore intimidating to the younger of the age groups
- The material on the test would be considered difficult for native speakers.
- There is no "gray area" to accommodate a score if it falls short.
- The results of the test are found until the next school year, so a student who is efficient in a general education class must remain in an ESL class for another year.
MASA- Mexican American Students Alliance
Service Provided: ESL classes for parents, tutoring for students in all subjects, mentoring for students in areas like applying for college, looking for internships, etc…, psychological counseling for students, and building a tighter Mexican community for both parents and students
Advantages: • All services are free of charge; anyone can participate • Develop close relationships between workers and participants • Workers pay close attention to parents and students due to small amount of participants • Students’ grades and working habit can drastically improve • Parents can learn English through helping their children with their homework • Preserve Mexican culture while helping parents and students to integrate into the American culture • Prevent students from joining gangs, etc… by setting examples for them to follow
Disadvantages: • Limited funding due to being a donation-based organization • Students and parents might not be able to learn English as quickly since most volunteers and workers at MASA are bilingual
Helpfulness: 5/5 Friendliness: 5/5 Overall Ratings: 4/5
Mexican Immigrant: Student/ Valeria Wu
Services attained from school: Bilingual classes and teachers’ consultations
Advantages of being a Mexican immigrant student: • Materials learned in Mexico is advanced comparing to the US educational system • Had a large community of Spanish-speaking people in high school, therefore did not feel left out • Bilingual classes made it easier to learn the material • Preserve Mexican heritage
Disadvantages of being a Mexican immigrant student: • Could not communicate with teachers and friends in school • Felt unmotivated with school (i.e. coursework was too easy) • Did not connect to American people culturally and linguistically • Did not feel forced to speak English since majority of friends speak Spanish and classes were bilingual
School’s helpfulness in teaching English: 6.5/10 Overall immigration experience: (N/A) Improves overtime
Our Lady of Guadelupe Roman Catholic Church
I interviewed the coordinator of church services, Ms. Ingram at Our Lady of Guadelupe Rectory, Roman Catholic church in Bensonhurst. However despite the impression the name of the church sends, the Church also caters to a large Italian population evident in Bensonhurst. The church is accompanied by their own small private school that runs up to middle school, which is obviously privately funded and acquires tuition. The Church is by now nearly a century old; it has been a “sanctuary for immigrants since the start of the 20th century”. They provide masses and baptism in Spanish. Which is quite a boon to Mexican Immigrants who aren’t fluent in English,; communions, consolation, baptisms, and such services become rendered rather impersonal in a second or unfamiliar language. The reverends at the churches are themselves, either Italian or Hispanic. The church stands as a secondary support for Mexicans Immigrants, like a second family, tightly bound by their common faith. The church also provides nonreligious activities and services, such as blood drives.
Russian Immigrants
An Interview With an Immigrant
By Michelle Ranello
I interviewed a woman named Alice Gilman. She came here with her parents and sister in 1988. She was 16 and her sister was 5. In Russia at that time it was very difficult to achieve anything if you were a Jew. Russia was a very anti-Semitic country. If you were Jewish you couldn't get into colleges or get the job that you deserved. That is why her parents decided to come here. Alice described America's education system as "terrible compared to Russia." When she first came here she went to into 11th grade in high school. She said that whatever she studied in 6th grade in Russia you take here when your in 12th grade. Math was the easiest subject for her. After high school she ended up going to Baruch for an accounting degree. Because of the education she got in Russia it was easy for her to succeed in America's education system.
St. Michael's Russian Catholic Church aka St. Michael's Chapel
Interview conducted on April 30, 2010 with Reverend Deacon Christopher LiGreci. It is located in the Soho area of Manhattan on Mulberry Street. They are a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church acknowledging the power of Pope in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI. The Church accepts all ethnicities and are not limited to only Russians as long as they practice Russian Catholicism.
When asked whether they only lend their services to Russians, he proudly responds that they accept all ethnicities into their community.
It doesn't matter what they look like what matters is that we are all humans.
The Church tries to spread the word that their organization is not just confined to people of Russian background. However, the title of their Church, St. Michael's Russian Catholic Church, says otherwise. As a result, they now refer to it as St. Michael's Chapel, a Russian Catholic Community of Byzantine Rite.
How They Help Educate the Russian Population
The St. Michael's Russian Catholic provides both English and Russian classes to their members. They try and schedule these classes mostly over the weekend so that members that live in other boroughs can participate as well. During the weekend, they found attendance rates to reach their peak. People of various boroughs are able to make the trip into Manhattan to attend. They have many members that attend their church services over the weekend and local cathedrals throughout the weekdays.
Most members that reside in Manhattan tend to attend the Russian classes. He has noticed that most Russians in Manhattan are well acquainted with the English language. On the other hand, as distance between a Russian and Manhattan increases, the chances that they are fluent in English lessens. Instead they are more familiarized with their native language, Russian. To promote the preservation of their Russian culture, they do suggest to their members to sign up for the Russian classes. Most of the Russian class are filled with Russians.
According to Deacon LiGreci, he believes that language is probably one of the most difficult aspects of integration. This is partly because there are certain syllables that are not part of the Russian language, but are included in the English language. Furthermore, it is difficult for everyone to understand the difficulties of the English language, that us Americans understand easily. Frustration in both the Russian and English classes are common.
Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association
Interview with Ms. Pat Singer, the Founder & Executive Director of Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association on April 27, 2010.
About Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association and their Services
The Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association is a non-profit organization that strives to make the community of Brighton Beach a better place for both new and current residents. The three main immigrant groups that they focus on are Russian, Hispanic and Middle Eastern. The organization does their best to maximize the Democratic experience of the United States to these immigrants. In addition, they also offer help with:
Social Services: help get into entitlement programs whether its for low-income housing, food stamps, section 8 (a type of Federal assistance dedicated to sponsoring subsidized housing for low income families and individuals)
Housing Advocacy: help you find representation and fight for housing issues as well as educated you on tenant laws and housing rights
Homeowner Counseling: help you receive low-interest loans from the government through the organization's counseling service
Landlord Assistance: help landlord settle disputes with their tenants and also make their buildings handicap accessible
Tenant Organization: help tenants work as a group to address any building problems to enhance their quality of life
Main Struggles for the Organization
Like my other small organizations, BBNA struggles financially. Ms. Pat Singer has to fund her small office located in Brighton Beach with an outstanding annual cost of $38,000 for heat, electricity and rent. She must raise $50,000 a year in order to just barely survive. She says "Right now we're in trouble.." The main source of sponsorships and donations come from the annual Jubilee parade which consists of roughly 100,000 of people. It costs them nearly $15,000 to conduct this parade, but they need to in order to keep the organization alive.
Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton
An interview with Lawrence Fish, Director of Adult Educational, Vocational and Citizenship Services
Lawrence quotes, “education is the cornerstone of a community.” He explains that in Russia, it is valued more than it is in the United States. A big problem for newly arriving immigrants is that an American college education is far more expensive than in Russia, but at the same time it’s lower quality.
At the Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton, they offer free tutoring services to teenagers. This includes helping students with homework, SAT or ACT preparation and college applications. They also stress for the students to give back by volunteering within the community.
These education services also focus on maintaining the Jewish faith among teenagers. Their leadership programs deal with “Jewish identity, history, and tradition.”
The Russian education system is actually considered superior to the American's. 53% of Russian Immigrants bring a College degree with them and 80% already have a high school diploma. This superiority leads to the Russian's relative advantage in finding white collared jobs.
In fact, during the Cold War, the Specialized High Schools were built to give America a fighting chance in the space race.
