Attention is focused on Washington this week as the Senate debates an overhaul of the immigration system. An idealogical tug-of-war is going on to determine who should be considered a resident, a worker, and eventually a citizen. But behind the news updates is an important issue that is hardly being considered. That is, how are we going to train 10 million new immigrant workers?
Our efforts in Latino Pathways are certainly timely and an important model for moving forward. At the same time it is clear from our work that concerted effort is needed to connect and adapt existing training and employment services. Most of the educational providers in North Carolina do not have the staff or support services in place to manage this new flow of adult learners. Our JobLink centers have little experience working with immigrant populations. There are many new and growing Latino community-based organizations, but few have any connection to the workforce system.
The prospect of massive work authorization makes Latino Pathways all the more important. While we have made important strides in organizing career pathways, we may be called on to go to scale sooner than we thought.
Colin Austin
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
One additional comment. The legislation in its current form also grades residency applications by employment factors including skills and education levels.
Post a Comment