Friday, May 22, 2009

Helping immigrants assimilate brings acclaim to nonprofit

This is another of the groups that has received the grants from the Migration Policy Institute. It is helping immigrants, using innovative ideas. - - Donna Poisl

By SUSAN CARROLL HOUSTON CHRONICLE

As her classmates chatted in Spanish, Edith Guerra carefully fashioned her daughter’s graduation cap using sheets of thin cardboard and a hot-glue gun. Then she added the final touch: a handmade tassel of shiny, red string.

Down the hall, Guerra’s 2-year-old, Melanie, sat in a classroom with a dozen other children, learning to recite her ABCs in English.

It was Wednesday morning, just weeks from a commencement ceremony for the group of young, Hispanic mothers and children in an acclaimed early education program called Avance, which aims to help “at risk” families — including new immigrants — break cycles of poverty and illiteracy.

The Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday honored the Avance program in El Paso for being one of four “exceptional immigrant integration initiatives” in the U.S. — netting the organization $50,000.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

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