Adult Diploma Program Grant Proposal (excerpt)
Ilhan was just a boy when his father was dragged out of their Mundal, a small hut-like home made from mud and dung, and was beaten, and carried off to jail. His crime? He belonged to the “wrong” clan. Ilhan’s father remained in prison for 11 years, until he was able to escape with the help of his son. Ilhan and his father fled Somali and walked for weeks in the blistering sun to get to the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, where for a year and a half, they lived under a tarp, survived on one meal a day usually consisting of beans and maize, and were witnesses to violence, disease, death, and similar horrors on a daily basis. Still, Ilhan had dreams of a better future.
Last spring, his dream came true. Through three years of hard work, commitment, and the support and guidance of his teachers, Ilhan received his high school diploma from Volunteers of America of Minnesota’s Adult Diploma Program, his father watched with pride from the audience. When he enrolled in our program, he didn’t know a single word of English, or how to use a pencil; today, he is working on getting his Associates Degree from Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and plans to become an engineer one day.
Ilhan’s story has a happy ending, but there are many others like him—Somali immigrants from refugee camps—who are still struggling to “make it” in their new home. This is a problem that affects Minnesota more than any other state in the country, and it is an issue that has exploded in scope over the last 10 years. According to the Minneapolis Foundation, in 1990, less than 5,000 Minnesota residents were born in Africa; a decade later, there were 34,000—nearly seven times more, and an additional 9,000 arrived by 2002 (Minneapolis Foundation, 2006). Minnesota has the highest population of Somali immigrants in the country, with most of them residing in Minneapolis.
The needs and challenges of Somali immigrants are great and diverse. At the root, most of their challenges, however, can be directly linked to a lack of English language skills. English language proficiency is crucial to getting an education, which is crucial to getting a job, which is crucial to securing housing and the ability to provide for your family; without English language proficiency, becoming a successful, self-sufficient member of American society is extremely difficult. In 2001, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota conducted and published the Somali Community Needs Assessment Project, where focus groups of Somali immigrants living in Minneapolis were asked to identify their greatest needs. According to this study, Somalis themselves identified lack of English language proficiency as their number one concern, followed closely by education and employment concerns. They expressed great frustration over not being able to fill out job applications or pass their American citizenship test because they cannot read them, or see a doctor because they cannot understand them. 35-year-old Abdi explained, “The lack of English language caused me to be chronically unemployed. I can’t find a job because I can’t ask for it.” (CURA, 2001) Not knowing English is a huge barrier to economic success and independence for Somali immigrants, Because Somalis speak limited English and lack a high school diploma, they can only secure un-skilled jobs which do not provide enough money to support themselves or their families. A recent study found that the average Somali immigrant makes just $8,800 a year (Center for Workforce Research and Information, 2006).
$8,800 a year, calculates out to about $183 a week, or just $24 a day—clearly not enough to pay for even the most basic of human needs: food, clothing, and shelter, especially when you are sending a portion of those earnings back home to family and relatives still living in Africa. While learning English is the first step to being able to secure a higher-paying job, Somali immigrants must also learn basic work-readiness skills. The Somali Community Needs Assessment Project found that Somali immigrants who had lived in the United States for a longer period of time, and those who had received some type of job training, were those who held higher level or higher paying jobs. The current economic crisis has made it exceedingly difficult, even for those who were born in America, who are fluent in English and have a high level of education, to find and keep and good-paying job. Now, more than ever before, it is crucial that Somali immigrants learn the skills they need to secure employment in the increasingly competitive job market.
B. The Opportunity
Volunteers of America of Minnesota’s Adult Diploma Program started just over five years ago in response to an expressed need in the South Minneapolis community surrounding VOA’s Education Center—an area with a particularly dense Somali population. Currently serving 150 students, the program has become one of the most successful and popular programs serving Somali immigrants. After landing in Minnesota, usually straight from Africa, many Somali adults literally take the light rail train from the airport to our school, saying, “I heard about this program while I was still in Africa. I want to go to school here.” The Adult Diploma Program helps Somali adults become self-sufficient by providing them with the tools they need to ultimately secure a good job and provide for themselves and for their families: English language instruction, a high school diploma, and life skills and work readiness training. Currently, work-readiness training is happening informally, as it is interwoven throughout all academic and ESL classes, as part of the Equipped for the Future curriculum. In order to make work-readiness training a more integral part of the Adult Diploma Program, VOA requests $28,300 to create a formal Work-Readiness Program that will teach Somali immigrants real-world skills that will help them secure higher-paying jobs, thereby reducing poverty for this growing population.
The program’s curriculum is based on the Equipped for the Future framework, a style of teaching and learning that first takes into account what adults need and want to learn at this point in their lives, then matches needs with real-world learning activities to achieve educational goals. Because language acquisition is the central need of the program’s student body, English as a Second Language instruction is interwoven throughout the program curricula. Each student completes an English language CASAS test, a nationally recognized test considered to be the most accurate evaluation of adult English Language Learners, to acquire baseline data; all students are tested again after 45-60 hours of instruction to gauge progress, and to determine the next level of instruction.
VOA’s Adult Diploma Program is unique in that it is one of few programs in the Twin Cities providing non-English speaking adults with a high school diploma. Research over the last 20 years has made it clear that the GED is considerably devalued in the labor market compared to a high school diploma. According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with a GED as their highest level of education earn an average of $396 a week, compared to $554 a week for those with a high school diploma. Employers see a high school diploma as “proof of potential”—the fact that an applicant was able to commit to and finish a long-term program, is proof that they will be able to commit to their job and to finishing the tasks they are assigned. A high school diploma, as opposed to a GED, provides Somali immigrants with the best assurance of future economic stability.
In addition to providing English language instruction and basic education, the program currently provides informal life and work skills training, interwoven throughout all academic and English language classes, as part of the Equipped for the Future curriculum. The Equipped for the Future (EFF) framework teaches adult learners skills they need to be successful in three roles: a citizen/community member, an employee, and a parent/family member. These skills are taught, hands-on, throughout every class.
Throughout the five years the program has been in existence, and especially now, during these tough economic times, the need for a more formal work-readiness program has become increasingly critical. According to the Somali Community Needs Assessment, only 54% of respondents held paying jobs, with many of those jobs considered low-pay and low-skill. It is absolutely crucial that our program participants graduate with the skills they need to find, secure, and be successful in a variety of careers. With support from the ________ Foundation, VOA’s Adult Diploma Program will hire a part-time Work Readiness Coordinator and purchase and implement Equipped for the Future’s Preparing for Work curriculum. EFF’s Preparing for Work curriculum, officially launched in December 2006, teaches adult learners the “soft skills” that businesses have identified as needed by today’s workers, and is designed to address the specific skills and knowledge needed for entry-level work, as defined by the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. The Preparing for Work curriculum also prepares students to advance beyond entry-level jobs by providing hands-on experiences to apply the new skills in various contexts. Through the Preparing for Work curriculum, students will learn job skills, and through internships and job shadowing experiences, as well as individual meetings with the Work Readiness Coordinator to work on filling out actual job applications, writing resumes and cover letters, searching for job openings, and practicing interviewing skills, students will have the opportunity to practice the skills they have learned, and will have the support they need to secure actual employment.
Last spring, his dream came true. Through three years of hard work, commitment, and the support and guidance of his teachers, Ilhan received his high school diploma from Volunteers of America of Minnesota’s Adult Diploma Program, his father watched with pride from the audience. When he enrolled in our program, he didn’t know a single word of English, or how to use a pencil; today, he is working on getting his Associates Degree from Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and plans to become an engineer one day.
Ilhan’s story has a happy ending, but there are many others like him—Somali immigrants from refugee camps—who are still struggling to “make it” in their new home. This is a problem that affects Minnesota more than any other state in the country, and it is an issue that has exploded in scope over the last 10 years. According to the Minneapolis Foundation, in 1990, less than 5,000 Minnesota residents were born in Africa; a decade later, there were 34,000—nearly seven times more, and an additional 9,000 arrived by 2002 (Minneapolis Foundation, 2006). Minnesota has the highest population of Somali immigrants in the country, with most of them residing in Minneapolis.
The needs and challenges of Somali immigrants are great and diverse. At the root, most of their challenges, however, can be directly linked to a lack of English language skills. English language proficiency is crucial to getting an education, which is crucial to getting a job, which is crucial to securing housing and the ability to provide for your family; without English language proficiency, becoming a successful, self-sufficient member of American society is extremely difficult. In 2001, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota conducted and published the Somali Community Needs Assessment Project, where focus groups of Somali immigrants living in Minneapolis were asked to identify their greatest needs. According to this study, Somalis themselves identified lack of English language proficiency as their number one concern, followed closely by education and employment concerns. They expressed great frustration over not being able to fill out job applications or pass their American citizenship test because they cannot read them, or see a doctor because they cannot understand them. 35-year-old Abdi explained, “The lack of English language caused me to be chronically unemployed. I can’t find a job because I can’t ask for it.” (CURA, 2001) Not knowing English is a huge barrier to economic success and independence for Somali immigrants, Because Somalis speak limited English and lack a high school diploma, they can only secure un-skilled jobs which do not provide enough money to support themselves or their families. A recent study found that the average Somali immigrant makes just $8,800 a year (Center for Workforce Research and Information, 2006).
$8,800 a year, calculates out to about $183 a week, or just $24 a day—clearly not enough to pay for even the most basic of human needs: food, clothing, and shelter, especially when you are sending a portion of those earnings back home to family and relatives still living in Africa. While learning English is the first step to being able to secure a higher-paying job, Somali immigrants must also learn basic work-readiness skills. The Somali Community Needs Assessment Project found that Somali immigrants who had lived in the United States for a longer period of time, and those who had received some type of job training, were those who held higher level or higher paying jobs. The current economic crisis has made it exceedingly difficult, even for those who were born in America, who are fluent in English and have a high level of education, to find and keep and good-paying job. Now, more than ever before, it is crucial that Somali immigrants learn the skills they need to secure employment in the increasingly competitive job market.
B. The Opportunity
Volunteers of America of Minnesota’s Adult Diploma Program started just over five years ago in response to an expressed need in the South Minneapolis community surrounding VOA’s Education Center—an area with a particularly dense Somali population. Currently serving 150 students, the program has become one of the most successful and popular programs serving Somali immigrants. After landing in Minnesota, usually straight from Africa, many Somali adults literally take the light rail train from the airport to our school, saying, “I heard about this program while I was still in Africa. I want to go to school here.” The Adult Diploma Program helps Somali adults become self-sufficient by providing them with the tools they need to ultimately secure a good job and provide for themselves and for their families: English language instruction, a high school diploma, and life skills and work readiness training. Currently, work-readiness training is happening informally, as it is interwoven throughout all academic and ESL classes, as part of the Equipped for the Future curriculum. In order to make work-readiness training a more integral part of the Adult Diploma Program, VOA requests $28,300 to create a formal Work-Readiness Program that will teach Somali immigrants real-world skills that will help them secure higher-paying jobs, thereby reducing poverty for this growing population.
The program’s curriculum is based on the Equipped for the Future framework, a style of teaching and learning that first takes into account what adults need and want to learn at this point in their lives, then matches needs with real-world learning activities to achieve educational goals. Because language acquisition is the central need of the program’s student body, English as a Second Language instruction is interwoven throughout the program curricula. Each student completes an English language CASAS test, a nationally recognized test considered to be the most accurate evaluation of adult English Language Learners, to acquire baseline data; all students are tested again after 45-60 hours of instruction to gauge progress, and to determine the next level of instruction.
VOA’s Adult Diploma Program is unique in that it is one of few programs in the Twin Cities providing non-English speaking adults with a high school diploma. Research over the last 20 years has made it clear that the GED is considerably devalued in the labor market compared to a high school diploma. According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with a GED as their highest level of education earn an average of $396 a week, compared to $554 a week for those with a high school diploma. Employers see a high school diploma as “proof of potential”—the fact that an applicant was able to commit to and finish a long-term program, is proof that they will be able to commit to their job and to finishing the tasks they are assigned. A high school diploma, as opposed to a GED, provides Somali immigrants with the best assurance of future economic stability.
In addition to providing English language instruction and basic education, the program currently provides informal life and work skills training, interwoven throughout all academic and English language classes, as part of the Equipped for the Future curriculum. The Equipped for the Future (EFF) framework teaches adult learners skills they need to be successful in three roles: a citizen/community member, an employee, and a parent/family member. These skills are taught, hands-on, throughout every class.
Throughout the five years the program has been in existence, and especially now, during these tough economic times, the need for a more formal work-readiness program has become increasingly critical. According to the Somali Community Needs Assessment, only 54% of respondents held paying jobs, with many of those jobs considered low-pay and low-skill. It is absolutely crucial that our program participants graduate with the skills they need to find, secure, and be successful in a variety of careers. With support from the ________ Foundation, VOA’s Adult Diploma Program will hire a part-time Work Readiness Coordinator and purchase and implement Equipped for the Future’s Preparing for Work curriculum. EFF’s Preparing for Work curriculum, officially launched in December 2006, teaches adult learners the “soft skills” that businesses have identified as needed by today’s workers, and is designed to address the specific skills and knowledge needed for entry-level work, as defined by the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. The Preparing for Work curriculum also prepares students to advance beyond entry-level jobs by providing hands-on experiences to apply the new skills in various contexts. Through the Preparing for Work curriculum, students will learn job skills, and through internships and job shadowing experiences, as well as individual meetings with the Work Readiness Coordinator to work on filling out actual job applications, writing resumes and cover letters, searching for job openings, and practicing interviewing skills, students will have the opportunity to practice the skills they have learned, and will have the support they need to secure actual employment.
