Adult Education, English and Skills Training: Opportunities for Action and Investment in the Most Vital Integration Services

Strong English language skills open the doors to economic advancement and community involvement for immigrants and refugees, while strong basic literacy, numeracy, and technology skills are also widely recognized as essential for all adults to secure family-sustaining jobs and navigate the demands of our complex society. Unfortunately, for decades newcomers’ needs for adult English and education services has far outstripped supply, with the gap in supply worsening in recent years as many state systems suffered new, deep losses during the recession. The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and several other organizations focused extensively on adult education and training needs and recommendations in their input to the White House Task Force on New Americans. Join us for a discussion of these wide-ranging recommendations, covering topics such as: meeting the particular needs of parents of young children and immigrants in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce; ensuring equitable access to services for those with low levels of underlying education; meeting the unique needs of those who received advanced education or training overseas; and ideas for ensuring more generally that implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the increasing emphasis on postsecondary transition and career pathways results in improved, rather than reduced, access to needed education and training opportunities for immigrants and refugees.

For more information on the other webinars in the series:

• March 12 (3:00 to 4:00 pm) Integration Challenges and Opportunities in the Economic Development and Refugee Resettlement Arenas
• March 18 (3:00 to 4:00 pm) Cross-Cutting Needs and Opportunities: Language Access, Funding, Multi-Level Partnerships, and Planning for the Long Term