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Executive
Summary
Overview
The Franklin/Hampshire Adult Education
Community Planning initiative began officially in May of 2001 as three
agencies with a long history of collaboration, (The Literacy Project (TLP), The
International Language Institute (ILI), and the Center for New Americans
(CNA)), gathered to assess the needs and assets of the adult learners in their
service delivery area. Blessed by
relationships with agencies cultivated over many years of community coalition-building,
in October, 2001 a community planning partnership was formed comprised of
representatives from the two county's school systems, social service, poverty
and government agencies, and correctional facilities. The Franklin/Hampshire Adult
Education Planning Partnership has met three times over a two-year period,
guiding the direction of the assessment, helping to name populations in need,
choosing areas of investigation and eventually identifying gaps in the data
collected in the initial assessment.
Included in this larger assessment are two separate CP
initiatives which are currently being carried out in the town of Ware in
Hampshire County, and in the North Quabbin - a region of Franklin County (see
reports attached).
Community
Needs
Communities of Focus
The community of focus for this assessment is actually two counties in
Western Massachusetts, Franklin and Hampshire.
Modeling the geographical boundaries of our Regional Employment Board
(REB), Franklin/Hampshire is treated in this assessment as one region. Many
agencies in the community partnership serve both counties, including the
Community Planning "Coordinating Team (CT)" comprised of ILI, CNA,
and TLP. [1]
This assessment highlights six towns having
either CNA, TLP or ILI sites. These towns are Northampton, Amherst and Ware in
Hampshire County, and Montague, Greenfield and Orange in Franklin County. The
town of Northampton is home to an ILI, a TLP and a CNA site. A seventh town,
Athol is in Worchester County and is included in the larger assessment because
many Athol residents are part of the North Quabbin TLP site.
Who lives in the community?
Intersected by the Connecticut River, the
F/H region is predominantly rural. The total population of both counties
according to the 2000 Census was approximately 223,786, about 3.8% of the
state’s population. This is a region rich in institutions of higher education
and rural farmland. Amidst scholars and students, foreign and domestic, mingle
farm families, a strong working class and others who are underemployed. There
are adults and out-of-school youth in both our rural and urban areas challenged
by low literacy, low English proficiency, poverty and homelessness. Wanting to
live independent and fruitful lives, the people in our region have not only
inner resources, but also their families and friends for support supplemented
by a powerful network of agencies and institutions working in integrative ways
to meet unmet needs.
Three
of the seven towns highlighted in the assessment, Greenfield, Amherst and
Northampton have small, ethnically rich populations of Chinese, Cambodian,
Hispanic, Tibetan residents. Greenfield
has Moldavian, Russian, and Ukrainian communities and Amherst has residents
from the Indian sub-continent.
What are the ABE-related needs?
In the six towns in Franklin and Hampshire Counties
where the main populations of learners reside, a total of 4,023 individuals
told the census takers that they speak English "less than very
well". In 2002, the ESOL sites of
the Center for New Americans and the International Language Institute served
approximately 400 learners. Due to the
fact that there is much more demand than supply, waiting lists for ILI and CNA
are currently between 40 days and four months. There are people who can stay on
waiting lists until there is an opening to get into one of the free ESOL
classes for immigrants and refugees, however, our primary data indicates that
it is only those who are the most tenacious who eventually get into the
classes. This leaves a huge gap in services for the hundreds, if not thousands
of LEP adults living in our region who, due to insurmountable life challenges,
cannot stay on a waiting list for several months nor afford to pay for
tuition-based English classes.
Many students in ESOL classes have come from
their home countries with a variety of certificates, licenses, and degrees that
are unusable due to their limited English proficiency. Doctors are making pizza, engineers are
working on construction crews, and nurses are doing personal care. It is the
need for re-credentialing in this country that makes people willing to spend
months on waiting lists, and keep up near perfect attendance in ESOL classes.
In late 2002, the Amherst Even Start program
closed after 5 years of providing family literacy services, including ESOL to
parents and children in Amherst, Pelham and Belchertown. 6,844 Amherst residents told the 2000 Census
takers that they speak a language other than English and of those, 2,075 said
they don't speak English very well. With these
figures relatively unchanged in 2003, a large gap in family literacy services
now exists in Amherst. Similar figures
among the Puerto Rican community in Northampton, have justified a new Even
Start program in that community. Opened
within the past few months, there will be a native language literacy class
taught at Casa Latina as an offering in the program.
The town of Greenfield has 520 adults with less than a
ninth grade education and 14% of its population is without a high school
diploma. Primary and secondary data have indicated that the new Greenfield Even
Start program will be a much-needed service.
Orange/Athol have 20 parents enrolled in their Even Start program. Both
towns have 20% of their adults without high school diplomas and Athol has 6% of
its adults with less than a ninth grade education. The town of Ware has 6.1% of its population over 25 with less
than a ninth grade education, and 19.5 of its adults without a high school
diploma. Ware has no Even Start program and it teen birth rate is 9.2% compared
to the state rate of 6.6%.
One of our
stakeholders in the partnership told us that his agency called Service Net serves 1000 homeless people
between Franklin and Hampshire Counties and Athol. "They are deficient in
skills and lacking physical and mental health", he said. The six Literacy Project sites in Ware,
Orange/Athol, Northampton, Amherst, Montague and Greenfield are showing a
marked increase in the number of homeless, especially youth in their classes.
Also, both youth and adults on parole and probation now comprise more than half
of the ABE population in three of The Literacy Project sites, and 10 to 25% of
the other two. These are figures representing those attending classes. Often
youth and adults with the lowest basic skills have challenges too great to
attend a formal GED class. ABE programs are trying to meet these challenges
through pre-GED and life skill classes, difficult to staff with dwindling
financial resources.
The Stavros Independent Living Center serves more than a
1000 people a year with different disabilities. A key informant interview with
their Director of Independent Living Services made us aware of a recent survey
conducted by their agency in the career centers in the area. The survey revealed that although most of the centers are
physically accessible to their constituents, once in the center many have
challenges using the computers due to a lack of software designed specifically
for the blind or partially blind or those having no use of their arms or
limited upper mobility.
Interestingly, when adult educational services were
mentioned during key informant interviews with both the Independent Living
Director for the physically disabled and the Director of Tri-County Youth
programs for the emotionally disturbed, they both said it was the personal care
staff who serve their constituents who would benefit the most from adult education
programs.
The unique needs of the female adult learner are often
tied to issue of abuse. The Women's Research Project has delved into the lives
of 105 Franklin County women who have recently experienced a major stressful
event within the past 6 months - including having been in jail, been homeless,
lost custody of their children, or have had serious money problems. Ninety percent of these women had been
abused as children or within 6 months of participation in the research. The
study showed that within 3 months of receiving care and support, 14.8% of the
women were taking computer classes and 16.1% were participating in some form of
training within the support facilities they were attending. 26.7% of the women
in the study were without a high school diploma. [2]
Our two counties have something we call
"hilltowns". Located in the
foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the term refers to the beautiful hills
visible from all parts of our region.
The term also refers to a geographically isolated area, cut off from
major population hubs by limited or no bus service and few local services. No
ESOL or ABE programs are available except in the southern hilltown of
Huntington whose adult learning center, funded through a Community Development
Block Grant serves adults and young adults in that area.
Most of our current students live in areas of the cities
or towns accessible by bus routes or own their own car. Transportation seems to
be a problem for only a small percentage of those surveyed. Those with problems
are usually students who must travel from the hilltowns or in the case of ESOL
classes, from towns outside the county. The reason there are so few hilltown
adults in ESOL and ABE classes is often due to transportation issues.
·
Only two of the seven towns in our study have shown a
population increase since 1990, Orange (2.82%) and Montague (2.08%). The
planning area has shown a 3.08% increase compared to a 5.53% increase in the
population of Massachusetts.
·
The rate of those living in poverty has increased
slightly in the two counties over the ten years, but the self-sufficiency
measure indicates a marked increase in those unable to make ends meet without
public assistance. The town of
Greenfield, for example, had a household poverty rate of 12% in 1990, and now
38% of households have incomes below $25,000.
·
The unemployment
rate has decreased for the planning areas by 5% between third quarter 1991 and
third quarter 2001 varying only +.01% from the state's reduction over the same
time period.
·
The percentage of
adults over 25 without a high school diploma in Hampshire County has been
reduced by 6.4% since 1990 and by 5.6% for Franklin-still higher than the state
rate of 15.2% which also dropped 4.8 percentage points since 1990. These drops
may be due to the success of adult education in our region and in the
state. There are still 15,773 adults
over 25 without a high school diploma in the Franklin/Hampshire adult education
region.
The economic downturn in Massachusetts and across the
country has affected all residents, but the burden falls especially hard on
those with low incomes and little chance of advancement without hundreds of
hours of training and education. Our
Thanksgiving Hunger Study for the Western Massachusetts Food bank revealed that
where the Food Bank used to serve the sick and the unemployed, it now
increasingly serves those who are employed, but unable to make ends meet.
·
Some towns in Hampshire County are included among the most expensive
housing markets in the state - only Boston, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are
higher.
·
Many of our adult learners must choose between school and job - a
terribly difficult decision
·
The two-year time limit for welfare benefits has adversely affected
single women with school-aged children, making it nearly impossible to stay in
school long enough to earn them the credentials for self-sufficiency - a cruel
Catch-22.
·
·
One of our major employers, the University of Massachusetts has laid off
or asked for early retirement from 500 employees, staff and faculty in 2002.
·
Concern within our CP partnership about the reintegration of our two
counties' ex-offenders arose simultaneously with a special report released with
alarming data about the almost complete lack of supervision in Massachusetts of
newly released criminals. According
to SMARTT data, in the Hampshire County Correctional Facility, the number of
16-18 year old inmates have more than doubled between 2001 and 2002.
·
90% of all inmates
in F/H Correctional Facilities have addiction and family problems.
Community
Assets
Local Institutions
ABE/ESOL Family Literacy Programs: There are
currently three major providers of adult education programs in our two counties
that serve approximately 400 students yearly. Existing ESOL programs including
the International Language Institute and the Center for New Americans cannot
meet the high demand for ESOL services. Waiting lists for both agencies are now
approximately 40 days to 4 months.
Three Even Start
programs (two brand new), one in Greenfield and one in Northampton and an older
one in Orange/Athol serve, or will serve approximately 60 parents and children
ages 0-3 onsite in early childhood rooms or will place them in early childhood
programs in the area.
Service Providers
Hampshire and
Franklin counties are rich with social service agencies (a full list can be
found in the appendix). Some of the
most comprehensive programming comes from the regions two poverty agencies, The
Hampshire County Action Commission (HCAC) and the Franklin Community Action
Corporation (FCAC). Many referrals to
ABE and ESOL programs come from these two agencies and from housing
authorities, DTA, churches, community centers, correctional facilities,
homeless shelters, the courts, juvenile detention, libraries, the UMass
employees assistance program, employers, Department of Youth Services,
Department of Mental Health, and the regional employment board. Students are referred to colleges,
libraries, career centers, housing authorities, substance abuse programs,
counseling, teen services, employers, career centers, and Even Start. There are
also referrals among our CP Coordinating Team.
Employment
Opportunities
The
Franklin/Hampshire region is part of the CAP region of New England according to
the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. The CAP region
includes Massachusetts and Connecticut. Their study of our population, labor
force, wage and salary employment developments in June, 2002 praised our
region's strong employment growth and suggested it was tied to our ability to
maintain and even expand our manufacturing base while adding larger numbers of
service sector jobs. From 1991 to 2000 our business services industry tripled,
adding 2100 new jobs, accounting for more than one in five new jobs in the
Franklin/Hampshire region. The
unemployment rate according to DETMA figures has gone from 2.7% in 2001 (3rd
quarter averages) to 3.5% in 2002 - only a .08% increase.
Although our
region may have an increase in service sector jobs they are reserved mostly for
those with a Bachelor's degree or better.
The lower-paying service sector job, which many of the ABE/ESOL students
hold, are not able to meet the requirements in the two counties for
self-sufficiency. Low English Proficiency and the lack of a GED or high school
diploma usually mean employment in the private household services dominated by
low-end service occupations.
The major
employers of ABE/ESOL/Family Literacy students in our region are restaurants,
supermarkets, nursing homes and hotels. There are also factories such as Yankee
Candle, and the Cain Pickle Factory (very few of our students work in these
manufacturing establishments).
While working on
their GED, students are taken on field trips to the career centers to help them
do job searches. They learn how to do
an interview, what jobs to look for with their skills and how to identify
specialized training opportunities.
Existing
Partnerships
The Franklin and
Hampshire County region has a strong network of human service providers that
offer critically needed services to area residents. These partnerships are
described in detail in the assets section of the report and in the
appendix. Key among these is the two
main service provider coalitions - The Franklin County Resource Network and the
Council of Social Agencies (COSA) in Hampshire
County. The Regional Employment Board
is also a major linking agency between the two counties. Referral and information systems are
developing locally that could have a profound affect on how all programs
coalesce around the families and individuals they serve. BATON, SPIFFY and the Youth Mapping Project
are just two recent examples of initiatives in our region.
Housing Services: The Greenfield Housing Authority has played an important role in the
community planning effort. It's
Coordinator has acted as a resource for one of our focus groups, organizing it,
getting the people there, and helping to form the questions for the survey,
following up when needed. Housing services in both our counties are key links
knowledge about our potential learners, where they live, what their needs are
and how they gather in neighborhoods.
Schools: Increasingly the relationship
between ABE/ESOL programs and the high schools is becoming crucial. The Ware TLP site has an excellent
relationship with the guidance department at Ware High School and should be
looked on as a model for others.
Implications
and Conclusions for ABE/ESOL Community Planning
Summary of Findings
Primary Data
Out-of-school
youth -Our study has shown that reaching increasing numbers of out-of-school
youth population, especially in Franklin County is becoming a major area of
concern for ABE service providers. A
large portion of ABE learner populations are ages 16-24 and have had some
connection with the courts and are either on parole or probation. There is an
increase in homeless youth in ABE programs and some suffer with behavioral and
life skill issues There is
no consensus among providers the best way to serve them in adult education
classes. Some of the youth express no desire to be in a structured
classroom and yet are disgruntled with their inability to move beyond
entry-level jobs. In many cases they lack the basic skills necessary to even
function in a structured classroom.
Unless provisions are made for their unique situations, it is highly
unlikely they will be able to meet even their most basic needs. This explains
the sharp increase in both counties of homeless youth, and with youth involved
with the courts.
ESOL -There are several
new immigrant populations in both counties, including new arrivals from Puerto
Rico, Cape Verde, Russia, the Ukraine, Moldavia, El Salvador and Pakistan. Focus groups with some of these groups and
other under-served parts of the adult learner population revealed that the
waiting lists for most ESOL programs are especially problematic, particularly
for those with other major life stressors.
Level of education from the home country, and the ability to meet basic needs such as housing, food,
transportation, childcare and job seem to be a key factors in their ability to
persevere while on a waiting list. The
waiting lists for free ESOL classes in our region is 40 days and there are 148
on waiting list currently with an average of 20-30 people waiting for each
class offering. Only Greenfield
currently has no waiting list.
Other
Under-served Populations- Through focus groups, key informant interviews and perusal of others'
data, our study brought us into closer contact with the members of our
community who are homeless, disabled, emotionally challenged, with women in
crisis, and those living in the isolated parts of our region, specifically the
hilltowns. There is still much more we need to know. Our study requires more
research. We found that the disabled require more attention to their needs in
the career centers, that the hilltown adult education programs would benefit
from more coordinated efforts and better transportation, and that we can follow
the lead of the Ware Adult Education Center in discovering how to better reach
out to women who have been in crisis.
Transitioning
to Work and College-The economic profile of the two counties reveal a marked increase in
service jobs, many low-paying, and for those that pay a living wage, a strong
need for a more educated workforce. Our
ABE/ESOL providers and the learners themselves indicate that multiple factors,
many of them related to the stress of trying to make ends meet, and including
poor working conditions at current jobs, a lack of affordable housing and
childcare, difficulty with transportation, addiction to substance, parole
requirements, domestic violence, and low self-esteem - all contribute to low
attendance or the ability to remain in ABE classes or on long ESOL waiting
lists. All of these barriers are tied to systemic causes and may mean building
better relationships with employers, better referral and collaboration, and a
better understanding of the stressors that make success in this system
attainable.
For youth completing their GED or finishing high school
and lacking certain skills for college attainment, there is a need to fill the
gap left by the elimination of the Step Up program.
Corrections
Reintegration - The correctional facilities in the two counties are working toward
funding educational reintegration counselor positions. It is obvious that many inmates are released
without having completed their GEDs, and that unless a judge mandates it, the chances of their prioritizing
education is unlikely. There is
a need for case coordination and ongoing follow-up for these parolees and for
those on probation as well.
Demographics
·
15,773 adults over
25 are without a high school diploma in the Franklin/Hampshire adult education
region.
·
3623 low English Proficiency adults in our Adult Education Planning area
are without services or on waiting lists.
·
Amherst has the
fastest growing Asian population in Western Massachusetts
·
Hispanics make up
3.4% of Hampshire County's population. The largest sub-group is of Puerto Rican
ancestry comprise 55% of the Hispanic/Latino population.
·
Franklin County has
seen a recent wave of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and has brought
about 400 new residents to the greater Greenfield area. They speak Russian, Romanian, and Moldovan,
This demographic shift is invisible in census figures on race, as well as on
the street because the census requires that they refer to themselves as white.
·
The 2000
Census showed 2,914 families in Franklin and Hampshire counties living in
poverty (6.5% of the Franklin County population and 5.1% of the Hampshire
County population).
·
According to 2000
census data, in 1999, 32.9% of families with female-headed households with
children under the age of 5 were determined to be living in poverty in
Ware. For Hampshire County as a whole,
that figure is 42.9% and for Franklin County the
figure is 43.5%. Although Hampshire is
doing better than the state in this regard, an estimated 4,500 children in
Hampshire County are living in poverty.
·
According to the
Self-Sufficiency Standard created by WOW, an estimated 26% of all households
(12,945) in Hampshire county don't make enough money to cover housing and
living costs.
·
The unemployment rate for Franklin and Hampshire counties combined,
according to DETMA figures has gone from 2.7% in 2001 (3rd quarter
averages) to 3.5% in 2002 - a .08% increase. Each county on its own has a lower
unemployment rate than the state.
·
While the number of
children under 5 is declining in Hampshire and Franklin counties, there are
still almost 9,117 children who may need services.
·
An average of 2.08% of our adult education planning region's school
population dropped out in the 9th grade in the 2000/2001 school
year.
·
MCAS scores in our region have generally risen between 2001 and
2002. Innovative remediation may be the
cause.
·
Forty percent and
45% of households who use Food Bank- affiliated programs have to regularly
choose between paying for food and paying for other basic needs, including
rent/mortgage, heat, and other utilities.
·
Only Ware in
Hampshire County had teen birth rates above the state's and teen birth rates
have been reduced in our planning area, overall.
·
The geographic coverage of public transportation in Hampshire County is
relatively sparse and regular bus routes reach only 8 of its 20
communities. Of the three public
transit authorities that serve Franklin County, many of the existing fixed
transit routes were established in the 1970s, and have not been significantly
changed since that time.
Target Populations in need of services
Youth and adult
populations need educational
services in order to maintain basic literacy skills and life skills. Other target populations in need include:
·
Adults with
developmental and cognitive disabilities
·
Out-of-School and
Youth-at-risk ages 16-18