LaGuardia Community College Receives Renewal Grant From Petrie Foundation to Enhance English Express Program

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (January 15, 2025) — LaGuardia Community College/CUNY plays a pivotal role in supporting adult learners by offering new educational opportunities. By offering comprehensive support services and skill development courses, LaGuardia is a critical access point for newly arrived immigrants and non-English speakers seeking a pathway to a college degree.

Fostering this initiative, LaGuardia was recently awarded a $210,000 renewal grant from the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation to enhance its English Express program, designed to help asylum seekers and others learn English.

The program, managed by the Center for Immigrant Education and Training (CIET) in LaGuardia’s Adult and Continuing Education and Workforce Development Division, was launched in November 2023 with an initial $210K grant from the Petrie Foundation.

LaGuardia is the largest provider of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) instruction in New York City, and the LaGuardia English Express program offers orientation and assessment activities, English language workshops contextualized to the immediate needs of daily living, and referrals to educational and training programs at LaGuardia and other providers.

CIET, which specializes in offering ESOL instruction contextualized to civics, immigrant family literacy, parent leadership, and workforce development for English language learners, has managed English Express, providing access to professional language and literacy assessment, introductory English workshops, GED preparation and testing, job training, and other types of resettlement assistance.

Paula DaSilva-Michelin, Director of Programs with the CIET, says LaGuardia English Express concluded its first year in October 2024 with great success.

“Through its contextualized English Express workshop series, and transitions referrals to GED classes, job training programs, and college readiness workshops, CIET has helped 744 Year One participants pursue their educational and career goals (exceeding an enrollment target of 640),” de Silva said.  “Six hundred thirty-five of these participants have been advised about more intensive English classes, 193 about GED programs, and 160 about the CUNY college application process and workforce training programs available on campus. To date, 180 workshops have been offered with an average attendance of over 20 students per session.”

With continued support from the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, LaGuardia plans to expand its ESOL offerings to provide ESOL classes contextualized to transitioning services, which specifically target 120 English Language Learners (ELL) alumni from Year One of English Express who are eager to continue with the program.

DaSilva-Michelin says the high enrollment in Year One can be credited to the staff’s intensive outreach efforts to local shelters, immigrant community groups, and partner adult literacy providers. Also, there was a higher than-anticipated weekly response and show rates on the part of individuals on the waitlist who received orientation invitations during the May-to-August project cycle.

“These results indicate great enthusiasm and word-of-mouth referrals for the program among local English language learners,” she said. “Currently, participants continue to attend workshops led by Educational Case managers, and ESOL staff are supporting participants on the next steps and connecting them to services in the community.”

The enhancement LaGuardia’s English Express program will provide three concurrent levels of instruction – beginner, intermediate and advanced — to students at different English proficiency levels. The three classes will each meet three times a week (7.5 hours) for 10 weeks. There will be three of these 10-week sessions, in winter, spring, and fall, 2025.  During the program year, students who complete the beginning and intermediate sessions will move on to a higher level pending an assessment.

The ESOL curriculum will be tailored to participants’ educational and career goals, offering lessons contextualized to support their college and career pathway transitions.  Course themes will cover many topics including U.S. education systems, GED, pre-matriculation and CUNY degree program application processes, and career pathways. The program will also continue covering the fundamental topics from Year One based on student need.

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The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation is a is a private, independent grantmaking foundation that aims to increase economic opportunity by strengthening college and career pathways for low-income New Yorkers.  The Foundation supports innovative programs and practices that improve readiness for and connection to higher education, enable students to thrive and succeed in college, and increase access to high potential careers upon graduation. Its goal is to ensure that all New Yorkers have the resources and opportunities needed to reach their goals in school, work, and life.

LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.

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