Immigration advocates call for $4M investment to support migrants entering New York City schools
NEW YORK -- Advocates are calling on Mayor Eric Adams to invest $4 million in community-based organizations to support migrants.
It comes as hundreds of youth asylum seekers arrive in New York City, CBS2's Zinnia Maldonado reported Thursday.
New York City Public Schools will welcome more than 1,000 asylum seekers to the classroom this year. Most arrived in the last few months from Central and South American countries, according to the New York Immigration Coalition.
"A lot of times information on schooling is really spotty for immigrant families," said Liza Schwartzwald, senior manager of education policy for the NYIC. "We're talking about asylum seekers, we're talking about refugees. These people don't even know that they were going to end up here."
NYIC and immigration allies are fighting for schools to be equitably funded with support for all students.
"What we're looking to do is make sure that these families don't come in and then immediately get lost," said Schwartzwald.
Carolina Tenecela, project coordinator at LSA Family Health Services, said many immigrant families arrive in the city with little to no knowledge on how to enroll their children in school.
"We help them with the entire application, because some of them don't have internet service. Some of them don't have laptops, they don't have cellphones," said Tenecela.
It's an issue Tenecela dealt with when her mother immigrated to the city from Ecuador.
"My mom didn't really know English. She didn't know how to do applications. She didn't know deadlines, she didn't know any of that," said Tenecela.
Stephanie Baez, an immigrant mother of two, said she wouldn't know how to ensure her children receive a quality education without organizations such as NYIC.
"I kind of found myself lost trying to learn everything and make sure that I have my kids in the proper school and getting the education," said Baez. "They helped me find my voice. They put me in contact with the people I needed to get in touch with."
"Every child that comes to New York City for whatever reason and whatever place deserves a quality education," said Schwartzwald.
Families like Baez's push advocates to continue fighting.