Riis Students Protesting Budget Cut Proposals at City Hall
Photographs from Diario de Mexico article with English translation:
DEMAND TO GET ENGLISH COURSES
Immigrants rallied in front of City Hall to ask that community programs are not taken away.
New York – Parents, teachers, and students from community centers from the 5 boroughs asked the officials of the Big Apple yesterday not to take funding away from English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.
“The students now receive only three days of class, and before we had five days of class per week”, said Betty Bravo, who attends free ESL classes at Riis Neighborhood Settlement House.
Following, while standing on the City Hall building steps, Bravo stated that the immigrants and elected officials gathered yesterday in support of the New York Immigration Coalition and wish that “local officials and mayor Michael R. Bloomberg stop the budget cuts to centers”, which help the immigrant communities in the Iron Metropolis (NYC).
“I have been studying for a year and I have advanced a lot thanks to the English program. I came to ask for help to be able to continue with my studies”, stated Guadalupe Alonso, born in Puebla, México.
On her part, Andrea Cárcamo-Cavazos, Outreach Specialist from Riis, maintained that “education should not be stopped, since the programs allow immigrants to develop skills to work”.
Quotation: “We want immigrants to be able to integrate into life in the United States, and a way to do it is through programs that allow them to expand their possibilities to communicate in English and also to develop their work and learning skills”. Andrea Cárcamo-Cavazos, staff member of Riis.
