Immigrants make up an increasingly large percentage of the workforce both in New York City and nationally, presenting a number of challenges for workforce development agencies nation-wide. Currently, pockets of interested professionals around the country are engaged in developing program initiatives to respond to these challenges, but there is no ready means for sharing the knowledge gained from these experiences and building upon it.
Designed as a resource for professionals to share their expertise, experience, and recommendations, this site builds on the work done at Bridges to Opportunity, a national conference sponsored by the Center for Immigrant Education and Training and the Center for Teaching and Learning of LaGuardia Community College, in October, 2006. Bridges offered an opportunity for professionals to come together to:
- strategize how to develop effective systems to support workforce development for English Language Learners
- share lessons we have learned from our work, and build a knowledge base that can serve as a resource in this field
- identify what works in workforce development for English Language Learners and make recommendations for next steps.
This project is funded in part by a grant from the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, as implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.