Around 6,000 recently-arrived asylum seekers are currently enrolled in New York City public schools. But two months into the school year, our city has still not given schools the resources they need to properly accommodate asylum seeking youth, the number of which continues to grow.
CIANA joined the New York Immigration Coalition and its Education Collaborative on October 31 on the steps of Tweed Courthouse, the headquarters of the NYC Department of Education, to rally for funding and support from elected officials towards asylum seekers in our City’s education system.
We previously gathered at the same spot in May to demand funding for equitable education towards immigrants in the city’s budget. Not only were these specific demands not met; this year’s budget cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to all of the City’s public schools.
Public school enrollment is measured every year on October 31 to determine how funding should be adjusted in the coming year. Monday’s rally focused on the huge jump in enrollment of asylum seeking youth this year and the severe lack of funding being allocated to meet their needs, from bilingual teachers who can communicate with students in their native language, to social workers who can connect their families with financial resources.
In addition to hearing testimonies from NYIC staff, community advocates, and parents, we also heard from City Comptroller Brad Lander. As a former Council Member who represented Sunset Park, a neighborhood in Brooklyn with large Chinese, Bangladeshi, and Hispanic immigrant populations, Lander understands the importance of education among immigrant communities. He highlighted the recent budget cuts as a key reason why his colleagues should support funding for asylum seeker youth.
As Comptroller, Lander is also responsible for reviewing the city budget and ensuring that the city agencies are implementing it properly. While not a voting member of the City Council, his input is valuable in determining where funding should go and how he will enforce it.
Older children are in just as high a need for school funding as younger students. High schoolers, who will soon age out of the public school system, rely on education as a launchpad for their future, but schools do not yet have the cultural competence to ensure integration and success for recently arrived teenagers.
Other speakers included Queens Delegation Co-Chair Nantasha Williams and Immigration Committee Chair Shahana Hanif, who succeeded Lander in the City Council.
Separate from the rally, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday that $12 million will be given to public schools with a certain number of students living in homeless shelters. In a majority of instances, these children are recent asylum seekers. Yet some activists feel that much more funding is needed to properly address the needs of asylum seeking youth in City public schools.
There are many ways that community members can get involved and support asylum seekers directly. Scroll to the bottom of this page to learn what you can do to help.