A cross-sector alliance of non-profit agencies and advocacy networks representing more than 100 organizations engaged in adult and higher education, employment, and community development have come together to protest The New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) $1.15 million in proposed cuts to GED testing sites, and to ask the governor and the state legislature to restore the funding in the 2010-2011 New York State Adopted Budget.
The cuts threaten drastic reduction to the 30,000 seats in New York City, limiting crucial access to a proven means of lifting millions of New Yorkers out of unemployment and into the workforce. Members of the campaign will testify on the impact of the cuts before the Education Committee of the New York State Assembly at a hearing about the GED at 10 a.m. May 19 in Albany.
The New York City Campaign to Save GED Testing! includes the Adult Learning Center, LaGuardia Community College, Campaign for Tomorrow’s Workforce, Community Service Society, Consortium for Worker Education, CUNY Adult Literacy/GED Program, Cypress Hills Local Development Corp., Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, NYC GED Testing Initiative, Good Shepherd Services, JobsFirst NYC, Literacy Assistance Center, Make the Road New York, Neighborhood Family Services Coalition, New York City Employment and Training Coalition, New York Coalition for Adult Literacy, Riverside Language Program, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, United Neighborhood Houses, and the Youth Development Institute. More organizations are signing on every day.
“These recent cuts in funding to community-based literacy programs and GED testing are like a brick thrown in the window of the City’s economic development efforts,” says Elyse Barbell, executive director, Literacy Assistance Center. “People without skills or credentials will have no choice but to rely on public aid and will not be able to contribute to society in any meaningful way unless they have access to education and job training,” Ms. Barbell says.
Michelle Samuels is a single parent, who received her GED diploma in February 2010 after taking classes at the Brooklyn Adult Learning Center. She is now in a computer class that she expects will lead to a better job. “Earning my GED has given me not only confidence, but also has set me on my way to a better future,” Ms. Samuels says.
State cuts will make it less likely for students like Ms. Samuels to get a GED and get on with their lives. Please see this document for more information about the campaign.
The NYC Campaign to Save GED Testing! is coordinated by the Campaign for Tomorrow’s Workforce in partnership with the New York City GED Testing Initiative, which is reforming the city’s GED testing and preparation system.