FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19th, 2006

One of Five Programs in the Nation to Receive Funding

Brooklyn, NY -In a national competition by the United States Department of Labor, a consortium led by four City University of New York colleges received a $1 million grant to provide English language skills and job training to immigrants interested in seeking employment in the retail and food industries.  The consortium was one of five programs that received a total of $4.9 million in grants.

The colleges Kingsborough Community College of Brooklyn, LaGuardia Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College and New York City College of Technology, will serve 240 entry-level and incumbent workers.  Each program will deliver English language instruction for the retail and food service industries as well as vocational training.  
 
The consortium partners are McDonalds, Local 338 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, and Queens Center Mall retailers.  The food chain and the union will each recruit 60 to 80 of their employees to participate in the program.  Additionally, 60 people, presently not employed in the industries, upon completion of the training, will be placed in retail stores or eating establishments.  The National Retail Federation Foundation, the research and educational arm of the National Retail Federation, will be a consultant to the consortium.

To succeed in the workplace, workers must know how to communicate in English, said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chaos.  These $4.9 million in English language skills training grants will help thousands of workers realize the American dream for themselves and their families.

The other grant recipients were San Diego’s Imperial Counties Labor Council, The Career Launch project in Minnesota, Nebraska, Metropolitan Community College, and SER-Jobs for Progress National Inc., in Texas.

To prepare its students for careers in the retail and food service industries, the consortiums Limited English Proficiency and Hispanic Workers Initiative will offer a specialized customer-service curriculum integrating English language instruction. Developing the curriculum is LaGuardia’s Center for Immigrant Education and Training, which for the past three years has been providing a wide range of academic and vocational training to the borough of Queen’s large immigrant population.

The CUNY consortium will provide workers with an innovative and research-based training program designed to facilitate successful job outcomes, including increased opportunities for job placement, retention and advancement as well as increased employee, employer, and customer satisfaction.

Before taking classes, each participant will go through an assessment process to determine what training is required.  Along with skills training, the program has a job placement component.

The CUNY consortium was organized by the New York City Sales and Services Training Partnership, which, along with the CUNY campuses, the NRF Foundation, Queens Center Mall, and Local 338, includes the SUNY Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center, the Long Island City Business Development Corporation, the New York City Department of Small Business Services, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Citibank.  

The new initiative builds on CUNY’s impressive record of accomplishment of recent projects funded by the Department of Labor.  Such projects include Hotel TEACH, which works with the hospitality industry; the Planning Access to Careers in Telecommunications through Training; and the H-1B Technical Skills Training grant for information technology.

CUNY has been playing a major role in training and upgrading workers skills in the U. S. Department of Labors high growth initiatives.