Executive
Summary
Overview
The Franklin/Hampshire Adult Education
Community Planning initiative began officially in May of 2001 as three
agencies with a long history of collaboration, (The Literacy Project (TLP), The
International Language Institute (ILI), and the Center for New Americans
(CNA)), gathered to assess the needs and assets of the adult learners in their
service delivery area. Blessed by
relationships with agencies cultivated over many years of community
coalition-building, in October, 2001 a community planning partnership was
formed comprised of representatives from the two county's school systems,
social service, poverty and government agencies, and correctional facilities. The Franklin/Hampshire Adult Education Planning Partnership in its entirety has met four times over a two-year period, guiding the direction
of the assessment, helping to name populations in need, choosing areas of
investigation and eventually identifying gaps in the data collected in the
initial assessment.
Included in this larger assessment are two separate CP
initiatives which are currently being carried out in the town of Ware in
Hampshire County, and in the North Quabbin - a region of Franklin County (see
reports attached).
Community
Needs
Communities of Focus
The community of focus for this assessment is actually two counties in
Western Massachusetts, Franklin and Hampshire.
Modeling the geographical boundaries of our Regional Employment Board
(REB), Franklin/Hampshire is treated in this assessment as one region. Many
agencies in the community partnership serve both counties, including the
Community Planning "Coordinating Team (CT)" comprised of ILI, CNA,
and TLP. [1]
This assessment highlights six towns having
either CNA, TLP or ILI sites. These towns are Northampton, Amherst and Ware in
Hampshire County, and Montague, Greenfield and Orange in Franklin County. The
town of Northampton is home to an ILI, a TLP and a CNA site. A seventh town,
Athol is in Worchester County and is included in the larger assessment because
many Athol residents are part of the North Quabbin TLP site.
Who lives in the community?
Intersected by the Connecticut River, the
F/H region is predominantly rural. The total population of both counties
according to the 2000 Census was approximately 223,786, about 3.8% of the
state’s population. This is a region rich in institutions of higher education
and rural farmland. Amidst scholars and students, foreign and domestic, mingle
farm families, a strong working class and others who are underemployed. There
are adults and out-of-school youth in both our rural and urban areas challenged
by low literacy, low English proficiency, poverty and homelessness. Wanting to
live independent and fruitful lives, the people in our region have not only
inner resources, but also their families and friends for support supplemented
by a powerful network of agencies and institutions working in integrative ways
to meet unmet needs.
Three of the seven towns highlighted in the
assessment, Greenfield, Amherst and Northampton have small, ethnically rich
populations of Chinese, Cambodian, Hispanic, Tibetan residents. Greenfield has Moldavian, Russian, and
Ukrainian communities and Amherst has residents from the Indian sub-continent.
What are the ABE-related needs?
In the six towns in Franklin and Hampshire Counties
where the main populations of learners reside, a total of 4,023 individuals told
the census takers that they speak English "less than very well". In 2002, the ESOL sites of the Center for
New Americans and the International Language Institute served approximately 400
learners. Due to the fact that there is
much more demand than supply, waiting lists for ILI and CNA are currently
between 40 days and four months. There are people who can stay on waiting lists
until there is an opening to get into one of the free ESOL classes for
immigrants and refugees, however, our primary data indicates that it is only
those who are the most tenacious who eventually get into the classes. This
leaves a huge gap in services for the hundreds, if not thousands of LEP adults
living in our region who, due to insurmountable life challenges, cannot stay on
a waiting list for several months nor afford to pay for tuition-based English
classes.
Many students in ESOL classes have come from
their home countries with a variety of certificates, licenses, and degrees that
are unusable due to their limited English proficiency. Doctors are making pizza, engineers are
working on construction crews, and nurses are doing personal care. It is the
need for re-credentialing in this country that makes people willing to spend
months on waiting lists, and keep up near perfect attendance in ESOL classes.
In late 2002, the Amherst Even Start program
closed after 5 years of providing family literacy services, including ESOL to
parents and children in Amherst, Pelham and Belchertown. 6,844 Amherst residents told the 2000 Census
takers that they speak a language other than English and of those, 2,075 said
they don't speak English very well. With these
figures relatively unchanged in 2003, a large gap in family literacy services
now exists in Amherst. Similar figures
among the Puerto Rican community in Northampton, have justified a new Even
Start program in that community. Opened
within the past few months, there will be a native language literacy class
taught at Casa Latina as an offering in the program.
The town of Greenfield has 520 adults with less than a
ninth grade education and 14% of its population is without a high school
diploma. Primary and secondary data have indicated that the new Greenfield Even
Start program will be a much-needed service.
Orange/Athol have 20 parents enrolled in their Even Start program. Both
towns have 20% of their adults without high school diplomas and Athol has 6% of
its adults with less than a ninth grade education. The town of Ware has 6.1% of its population over 25 with less
than a ninth grade education, and 19.5 of its adults without a high school
diploma. Ware has no Even Start program and it teen birth rate is 9.2% compared
to the state rate of 6.6%.
One of our
stakeholders in the partnership told us that his agency called Service Net serves 1000 homeless people
between Franklin and Hampshire Counties and Athol. "They are deficient in
skills and lacking physical and mental health", he said. The six Literacy Project sites in Ware,
Orange/Athol, Northampton, Amherst, Montague and Greenfield are showing a
marked increase in the number of homeless, especially youth in their classes.
Also, both youth and adults on parole and probation now comprise more than half
of the ABE population in three of The Literacy Project sites, and 10 to 25% of
the other two. These are figures representing those attending classes. Often
youth and adults with the lowest basic skills have challenges too great to
attend a formal GED class. ABE programs are trying to meet these challenges
through pre-GED and life skill classes, difficult to staff with dwindling
financial resources.
The Stavros Independent Living Center serves more than a
1000 people a year with different disabilities. A key informant interview with
their Director of Independent Living Services made us aware of a recent survey
conducted by their agency in the career centers in the area. The survey revealed that although most of the centers are
physically accessible to their constituents, once in the center many have
challenges using the computers due to a lack of software designed specifically
for the blind or partially blind or those having no use of their arms or
limited upper mobility.
Interestingly, when adult educational services were
mentioned during key informant interviews with both the Independent Living
Director for the physically disabled and the Director of Tri-County Youth
programs for the emotionally disturbed, they both said it was the personal care
staff who serve their constituents who would benefit the most from adult
education programs.
The unique needs of the female adult learner are often
tied to issue of abuse. The Women's Research Project has delved into the lives
of 105 Franklin County women who have recently experienced a major stressful
event within the past 6 months - including having been in jail, been homeless,
lost custody of their children, or have had serious money problems. Ninety percent of these women had been
abused as children or within 6 months of participation in the research. The
study showed that within 3 months of receiving care and support, 14.8% of the
women were taking computer classes and 16.1% were participating in some form of
training within the support facilities they were attending. 26.7% of the women
in the study were without a high school diploma. [2]
Executive
Summary
Overview
The Franklin/Hampshire Adult Education
Community Planning initiative began officially in May of 2001 as three
agencies with a long history of collaboration, (The Literacy Project (TLP), The
International Language Institute (ILI), and the Center for New Americans
(CNA)), gathered to assess the needs and assets of the adult learners in their
service delivery area. Blessed by
relationships with agencies cultivated over many years of community
coalition-building, in October, 2001 a community planning partnership was
formed comprised of representatives from the two county's school systems,
social service, poverty and government agencies, and correctional facilities. The Franklin/Hampshire Adult Education Planning Partnership has met
three times over a two-year period, guiding the direction of the assessment,
helping to name populations in need, choosing areas of investigation and
eventually identifying gaps in the data collected in the initial assessment.
Included in this larger assessment are two separate CP
initiatives which are currently being
carried out in the town of Ware in Hampshire County, and in the North Quabbin -
a region of Franklin County (see reports attached).
Community
Needs
Communities of Focus
The community of focus for this assessment is actually two counties in
Western Massachusetts, Franklin and Hampshire.
Modeling the geographical boundaries of our Regional Employment Board
(REB), Franklin/Hampshire is treated in this assessment as one region. Many
agencies in the community partnership serve both counties, including the
Community Planning "Coordinating Team (CT)" comprised of ILI, CNA,
and TLP. [3]
This assessment highlights six towns having
either CNA, TLP or ILI sites. These towns are Northampton, Amherst and Ware in
Hampshire County, and Montague, Greenfield and Orange in Franklin County. The
town of Northampton is home to an ILI, a TLP and a CNA site. A seventh town,
Athol is in Worchester County and is included in the larger assessment because
many Athol residents are part of the North Quabbin TLP site.
Who lives in the community?
Intersected by the Connecticut River, the
F/H region is predominantly rural. The total population of both counties
according to the 2000 Census was approximately 223,786, about 3.8% of the
state’s population. This is a region rich in institutions of higher education
and rural farmland. Amidst scholars and students, foreign and domestic, mingle
farm families, a strong working class and others who are underemployed. There
are adults and out-of-school youth in both our rural and urban areas challenged
by low literacy, low English proficiency, poverty and homelessness. Wanting to
live independent and fruitful lives, the people in our region have not only
inner resources, but also their families and friends for support supplemented
by a powerful network of agencies and institutions working in integrative ways
to meet unmet needs.
Three of the seven towns highlighted in the
assessment, Greenfield, Amherst and Northampton have small, ethnically rich
populations of Chinese, Cambodian, Hispanic, Tibetan residents. Greenfield has Moldavian, Russian, and
Ukrainian communities and Amherst has residents from the Indian sub-continent.
What are the ABE-related needs?
In the six towns in Franklin and Hampshire Counties
where the main populations of learners reside, a total of 4,023 individuals
told the census takers that they speak English "less than very
well". In 2002, the ESOL sites of
the Center for New Americans and the International Language Institute served
approximately 400 learners. Due to the
fact that there is much more demand than supply, waiting lists for ILI and CNA
are currently between 40 days and four months. There are people who can stay on
waiting lists until there is an opening to get into one of the free ESOL
classes for immigrants and refugees, however, our primary data indicates that
it is only those who are the most tenacious who eventually get into the
classes. This leaves a huge gap in services for the hundreds, if not thousands
of LEP adults living in our region who, due to insurmountable life challenges,
cannot stay on a waiting list for several months nor afford to pay for
tuition-based English classes.
Many students in ESOL classes have come from
their home countries with a variety of certificates, licenses, and degrees that
are unusable due to their limited English proficiency. Doctors are making pizza, engineers are
working on construction crews, and nurses are doing personal care. It is the
need for re-credentialing in this country that makes people willing to spend
months on waiting lists, and keep up near perfect attendance in ESOL classes.
In late 2002, the Amherst Even Start program
closed after 5 years of providing family literacy services, including ESOL to
parents and children in Amherst, Pelham and Belchertown. 6,844 Amherst residents told the 2000 Census
takers that they speak a language other than English and of those, 2,075 said
they don't speak English very well. With these
figures relatively unchanged in 2003, a large gap in family literacy services
now exists in Amherst. Similar figures
among the Puerto Rican community in Northampton, have justified a new Even
Start program in that community. Opened
within the past few months, there will be a native language literacy class
taught at Casa Latina as an offering in the program.
The town of Greenfield has 520 adults with less than a
ninth grade education and 14% of its population is without a high school
diploma. Primary and secondary data have indicated that the new Greenfield Even
Start program will be a much-needed service.
Orange/Athol have 20 parents enrolled in their Even Start program. Both
towns have 20% of their adults without high school diplomas and Athol has 6% of
its adults with less than a ninth grade education. The town of Ware has 6.1% of its population over 25 with less
than a ninth grade education, and 19.5 of its adults without a high school
diploma. Ware has no Even Start program and it teen birth rate is 9.2% compared
to the state rate of 6.6%.
One of our
stakeholders in the partnership told us that his agency called Service Net serves 1000 homeless people
between Franklin and Hampshire Counties and Athol. "They are deficient in
skills and lacking physical and mental health", he said. The six Literacy Project sites in Ware,
Orange/Athol, Northampton, Amherst, Montague and Greenfield are showing a
marked increase in the number of homeless, especially youth in their classes.
Also, both youth and adults on parole and probation now comprise more than half
of the ABE population in three of The Literacy Project sites, and 10 to 25% of
the other two. These are figures representing those attending classes. Often
youth and adults with the lowest basic skills have challenges too great to
attend a formal GED class. ABE programs are trying to meet these challenges
through pre-GED and life skill classes, difficult to staff with dwindling
financial resources.
The Stavros Independent Living Center serves more than a
1000 people a year with different disabilities. A key informant interview with
their Director of Independent Living Services made us aware of a recent survey
conducted by their agency in the career centers in the area. The survey revealed that although most of the centers are
physically accessible to their constituents, once in the center many have
challenges using the computers due to a lack of software designed specifically
for the blind or partially blind or those having no use of their arms or
limited upper mobility.
Interestingly, when adult educational services were
mentioned during key informant interviews with both the Independent Living
Director for the physically disabled and the Director of Tri-County Youth
programs for the emotionally disturbed, they both said it was the personal care
staff who serve their constituents who would benefit the most from adult
education programs.
The unique needs of the female adult learner are often
tied to issue of abuse. The Women's Research Project has delved into the lives
of 105 Franklin County women who have recently experienced a major stressful
event within the past 6 months - including having been in jail, been homeless,
lost custody of their children, or have had serious money problems. Ninety percent of these women had been
abused as children or within 6 months of participation in the research. The
study showed that within 3 months of receiving care and support, 14.8% of the
women were taking computer classes and 16.1% were participating in some form of
training within the support facilities they were attending. 26.7% of the women
in the study were without a high school diploma. [4]
Our two counties have something we call
"hilltowns". Located in the
foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the term refers to the beautiful hills
visible from all parts of our region.
The term also refers to a geographically isolated area, cut off from
major population hubs by limited or no bus service and few local services. No
ESOL or ABE programs are available except in the southern hilltown of
Huntington whose adult learning center, funded through a Community Development
Block Grant serves adults and young adults in that area.
Most of our current students live in areas of the cities
or towns accessible by bus routes or own their own car. Transportation seems to
be a problem for only a small percentage of those surveyed. Those with problems
are usually students who must travel from the hilltowns or in the case of ESOL
classes, from towns outside the county. The reason there are so few hilltown
adults in ESOL and ABE classes is often due to transportation issues.
·
Only two of the seven towns in our study have shown a
population increase since 1990, Orange (2.82%) and Montague (2.08%). The
planning area has shown a 3.08% increase compared to a 5.53% increase in the
population of Massachusetts.
·
The rate of those living in poverty has increased
slightly in the two counties over the ten years, but the self-sufficiency
measure indicates a marked increase in those unable to make ends meet without
public assistance. The town of
Greenfield, for example, had a household poverty rate of 12% in 1990, and now
38% of households have incomes below $25,000.
·
The unemployment
rate has decreased for the planning areas by 5% between third quarter 1991 and
third quarter 2001 varying only +.01% from the state's reduction over the same
time period.
·
The percentage of
adults over 25 without a high school diploma in Hampshire County has been
reduced by 6.4% since 1990 and by 5.6% for Franklin-still higher than the state
rate of 15.2% which also dropped 4.8 percentage points since 1990. These drops
may be due to the success of adult education in our region and in the
state. There are still 15,773 adults
over 25 without a high school diploma in the Franklin/Hampshire adult education
region.
The economic downturn in Massachusetts and across the
country has affected all residents, but the burden falls especially hard on
those with low incomes and little chance of advancement without hundreds of
hours of training and education. Our
Thanksgiving Hunger Study for the Western Massachusetts Food bank revealed that
where the Food Bank used to serve the sick and the unemployed, it now
increasingly serves those who are employed, but unable to make ends meet.
·
Some towns in Hampshire County are included among the most expensive
housing markets in the state - only Boston, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are
higher.
·
Many of our adult learners must choose between school and job - a
terribly difficult decision
·
The two-year time limit for welfare benefits has adversely affected
single women with school-aged children, making it nearly impossible to stay in
school long enough to earn them the credentials for self-sufficiency - a cruel
Catch-22.
·
Local employers discriminate against those who are limited English
proficient, paying low wages and expecting loyalty and a willingness to work
long hours.
·
One of our major employers, the University of Massachusetts has laid off
or asked for early retirement from 500 employees, staff and faculty in 2002.
·
Concern within our CP partnership about the reintegration of our two
counties' ex-offenders arose simultaneously with a special report released with
alarming data about the almost complete lack of supervision in Massachusetts of
newly released criminals. According
to SMARTT data, in the Hampshire County Correctional Facility, the number of
16-18 year old inmates have more than doubled between 2001 and 2002.
·
90% of all inmates
in F/H Correctional Facilities have addiction and family problems.
Community
Assets
Local Institutions
ABE/ESOL Family Literacy Programs: There are
currently three major providers of adult education programs in our two counties
that serve approximately 400 students yearly. Existing ESOL programs including
the International Language Institute and the Center for New Americans cannot
meet the high demand for ESOL services. Waiting lists for both agencies are now
approximately 40 days to 4 months.
Three Even Start
programs (two brand new), one in Greenfield and one in Northampton and an older
one in Orange/Athol serve, or will serve approximately 60 parents and children
ages 0-3 onsite in early childhood rooms or will place them in early childhood
programs in the area.
Service Providers
Hampshire and
Franklin counties are rich with social service agencies (a full list can be
found in the appendix). Some of the
most comprehensive programming comes from the regions two poverty agencies, The
Hampshire County Action Commission (HCAC) and the Franklin Community Action
Corporation (FCAC). Many referrals to
ABE and ESOL programs come from these two agencies and from housing
authorities, DTA, churches, community centers, correctional facilities,
homeless shelters, the courts, juvenile detention, libraries, the UMass
employees assistance program, employers, Department of Youth Services,
Department of Mental Health, and the regional employment board. Students are referred to colleges,
libraries, career centers, housing authorities, substance abuse programs,
counseling, teen services, employers, career centers, and Even Start. There are
also referrals among our CP Coordinating Team.
Employment
Opportunities
The
Franklin/Hampshire region is part of the CAP region of New England according to
the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. The CAP region
includes Massachusetts and Connecticut. Their study of our population, labor
force, wage and salary employment developments in June, 2002 praised our
region's strong employment growth and suggested it was tied to our ability to
maintain and even expand our manufacturing base while adding larger numbers of
service sector jobs. From 1991 to 2000 our business services industry tripled,
adding 2100 new jobs, accounting for more than one in five new jobs in the
Franklin/Hampshire region. The
unemployment rate according to DETMA figures has gone from 2.7% in 2001 (3rd
quarter averages) to 3.5% in 2002 - only a .08% increase.
Although our
region may have an increase in service sector jobs they are reserved mostly for
those with a Bachelor's degree or better.
The lower-paying service sector job, which many of the ABE/ESOL students
hold, are not able to meet the requirements in the two counties for
self-sufficiency. Low English Proficiency and the lack of a GED or high school
diploma usually mean employment in the private household services dominated by
low-end service occupations.
The major
employers of ABE/ESOL/Family Literacy students in our region are restaurants,
supermarkets, nursing homes and hotels. There are also factories such as Yankee
Candle, and the Cain Pickle Factory (very few of our students work in these
manufacturing establishments).
While working on
their GED, students are taken on field trips to the career centers to help them
do job searches. They learn how to do
an interview, what jobs to look for with their skills and how to identify specialized
training opportunities.
Existing
Partnerships
The Franklin and
Hampshire County region has a strong network of human service providers that
offer critically needed services to area residents. These partnerships are
described in detail in the assets section of the report and in the
appendix. Key among these is the two
main service provider coalitions - The Franklin County Resource Network and the
Council of Social Agencies (COSA) in Hampshire
County. The Regional Employment Board
is also a major linking agency between the two counties. Referral and information systems are
developing locally that could have a profound affect on how all programs
coalesce around the families and individuals they serve. BATON, SPIFFY and the Youth Mapping Project
are just two recent examples of initiatives in our region.
Housing Services: The Greenfield Housing Authority has played an important role in the
community planning effort. It's
Coordinator has acted as a resource for one of our focus groups, organizing it,
getting the people there, and helping to form the questions for the survey,
following up when needed. Housing services in both our counties are key links
knowledge about our potential learners, where they live, what their needs are
and how they gather in neighborhoods.
Schools: Increasingly the relationship
between ABE/ESOL programs and the high schools is becoming crucial. The Ware TLP site has an excellent
relationship with the guidance department at Ware High School and should be
looked on as a model for others.
Implications
and Conclusions for ABE/ESOL Community Planning
Summary of Findings
This Executive Summary of the comprehensive assessment contains an
analysis of the findings from secondary and primary data sources, taking into
account our community's assets, and prefaced by the concerns of our core
committee about the size of the planning area.
The Size of the Planning Area
Strategic Planning
for Adult Basic Education services in the Franklin Hampshire service area must
take into account the geographical size and diversity of this area. At the present time there are 3 separate
partnerships addressing this dispersion and diversity. This makes sense given the geographic
isolation of both the Ware and North Quabbin Areas*.
Even with separate
Community Planning Partnerships in the Ware and North Quabbin areas, there may
still be a need to further localize the "Central Planning Process"
that currently covers the communities of Amherst, Northampton, Greenfield, and
Montague. A logical step might be to
separate out the processes for the Hampshire County communities (Amherst and
Northampton) and the Franklin County communities (Greenfield and
Montague). Of course, the advantages of
local "community relevance" could be counterbalanced by the
disadvantages of increased burdens on staff time to plan, coordinate, and carry
out the necessary planning and partnership activities.
Though the most
rural communities of our region are under-served in many ways, communities like
Amherst, Northampton, Greenfield, and Montague boast a wide diversity of human
and educational services and a long history of planning and partnership
activities. The core DOE funded ABE
providers (The Center for New Americans, The Literacy Project, and the
International Language Institute) have been long term players in many of these
partnerships - especially COSA (Council of Social Agencies) in Hampshire County
and the Franklin County Resource network.
The core DOE funded
ABE provider agencies are committed to ensure that the needs of adult learners
are taken into account in all the major planning initiatives in our service
area. To that end we seek to strategically increase our participation in
ongoing local planning partnerships even as we fulfill the requirements of the
DOE Strategic Community Planning process.
Doing this in a comprehensive, but flexible localized way, will indeed
be challenging, but we are looking forward with confidence in ourselves and in
our partners.
The
Analysis of Primary and Secondary Findings By The Core Committee
The analysis of
primary and secondary findings produced a complex, if not overwhelming, amount
of information to guide the strategic planning stage of the ABE community
planning. From this process, though, emerged seven overarching themes that
encompass many of the issues identified.
These overarching themes are summarized below along with a brief
discussion of each one's implications for the strategic planning process to
come.
Dissemination of Information:
Identified
Challenge: A reoccurring
theme of focus groups and key informant interviews was a lack of information
and/or misinformation about the local adult basic education system. Individuals from various community groups
and institutions reported having inadequate information as to what services
were available and how to make referrals.
In some cases, this was the result of information having not reached
particular organizations or groups, while in other cases, information had reached
appropriate organizations but was not effectively disseminated within. Focus groups and key informant also revealed
a broad range of misperceptions about the local ABE programs, their capacity
and staffing.
Implication:
Within the next phase of the community planning process, the partnership
will need to work to identify and implement mechanisms for more effective and
systematic dissemination of information, and to continue building relationships
that will facilitate these ends.
Waiting List for ESOL Services:
Identified
Challenge: The planning
process uncovered a great deal of frustration with the current waiting list for
ESOL classes on the part of students looking to enroll, as well as
organizations that serve them. It also
revealed that individuals with the greatest life challenges seem to be least
likely to place their names upon the waiting lists or to maintain interest and
availability during the waiting period.
Implications:
Within future planning activities, the partnership will explore the
feasibility of expanding services available to students on waiting lists, such
as tutorials, computer classes or conversation groups, some of which are
already available, as well providing additional support and check-ins. Additionally, the strategic planning phase
will be used as an opportunity to advocate for additional resources for ABE
programs so more students may be served
Coordination of services:
Identified
Challenge: For
clients/students who are in need of a variety of different educational and
social services their experience can be quite overwhelming. The current network of public and private
service organizations can be confusing, fragmented and unwelcoming. Consequently, it frequently leaves clients/students
and those that assist them at a loss for the best ways to meet their
needs.
Implication:
In conjunction with other community initiatives, the ABE Community
Planning Partnership will work to advocate for and facilitate greater
coordination of services. Promising
models include a variety of comprehensive, collaborative and/or integrative
models of service delivery and support, examples of which have been cited in
the body of the report. These would
likely involve streamlined intake and cross-disciplinary information sharing. Furthermore, members of the partnership
should work to promote greater availability of case-coordination and
case-management services to support students/clients with multiple needs.
Targeted Outreach
Identified
Challenge: Analyses of both
primary and secondary data have highlighted particular population segments that
may be under-served by the local ABE system.
These groups include:
·
Adults with
developmental and cognitive disabilities
·
Out-of-School
·
Homeless Adults and
Youth
·
Ex-offenders/Youth
and adults on probation
·
Particular ethnic groups
such as Cape Verdeans in Amherst, Moldovans and Russians in Greenfield, and
newly arrived Puerto Rican adults in Northampton.
·
LEP and low
literacy, out-of-school, and at-risk parents in Greenfield, Amherst and
Northampton
·
Migrant workers and
their teenage children
·
People transitioning
off of welfare
·
Women who have
experienced domestic violence and trauma.
Implication: The partnership will work to further
develop targeted outreach approaches that are appropriate to these identified
groups. Approaches will include both
formal and informal means of outreach, and will involve ABE providers and other
partners working in collaboration.
Transition Support
Identified
Challenge: The planning
process revealed a significant lack of programming to provide current and
potential ABE students with support during critical transitions. In particular, there are inadequate
resources to support transitions from ABE programs to college, from ABE
programs to work and from corrections to ABE.
Implication: The partnership will continue to
convene planning forums specific to these challenges. The goals of these activities will include:
·
Continued
relationship-building and planning among ABE, higher education, employment
assistance and corrections providers
·
Identification of
ways to improve the capacity of current programs in these areas
·
Identification of
and development of additional models to provide transition support
·
Identification of
funding sources to support the creation of new transition support programs
·
Advocacy as to the
importance of providing these types of support
Ability of the ABE System to
Effectively Serve Youth: