United Way commits $1M to reduce immigrant dropout rate

LYNN – United Way announced plans Wednesday to spend $1 million over the next three years to send 15 tutors and mentors into local public schools where they will work on cutting the dropout rate among immigrant students.?This is unique to Lynn,” said United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley spokeswoman Katie Ward.United Way will serve limited English-speaking students and their families, according to a United Way press release, by teaming up with AmeriCorps, a program overseen by the federal Corporation for National and Community Service.?These young professionals will really support these students and their families,” said Sarah Link, United Way assistance vice president.Starting in the fall, AmeriCorps members will work with English language learners in local schools to help the student succeed academically and provide assistance to their families.School Committee member Maria Carrasco said United Way tutoring could help immigrant and non English-speaking students who work after school and need more intense academic help during the school day.She said it is important to spend money on programs that help immigrant parents bridge language gaps keeping them from staying on top of their child?s school progress and hampering them from participating in school and community meetings.?That money can help the whole family. I?m so happy to hear about this,” Carrasco said Wednesday.The statewide dropout rate for immigrant students is 4.6 percent, according to state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education statistics quoted by United Way, compared to a 2.7 percent dropout rate for all students statewide.Link said the money will pay for training for the 15 tutors and provide “a small stipend.” She said the immigrant assistance will focus, in part, on “unaccompanied minors” – older teenagers from Guatemala and other countries who come to Lynn with very little schooling.Top school administrators and Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said 93 of these students are currently in local schools.Carrasco said Lynn?s immigrant dropout rate is higher than the comparable statewide average.Superintendent Catherine Latham in a March report on local schools stated the Lynn?s dropout rate has dropped from 5.8 percent in 2008 to 4.1 percent in 2012.But the report also noted that the percentage of students for whom English is not their first language climbed from 50.7 percent in 2010 to 54.2 percent last year.?Our language support office has adopted new state initiatives and increased staffing to meet and support the challenges of educating our ethnically and linguistically diverse populations,” Latham wrote in the report.Nearly 50 different languages are spoken in Lynn schools, according to United Way?s release, and the organization said the key to helping limited English speakers graduate from high school is to provide them with help and assist their families with education-related challenges.United Way, according to the agency release, spends $1.3 million annually supporting local agencies, including ones like the Greater Lynn YMCA that hosted summer reading programs intended to keep elementary school students? reading skills sharp.Agency workers recently asked local residents for suggestions on how United Way could expand Lynn services.?One of the overwhelming responses focused on reducing the dropout rate and providing more opportunities for youth,” the release stated.AmeriCorps sends 80,000 members out to work on projects across the nation, according to its website, and United Way is one of 19 organizations across the state chosen by the Massachusetts Service Alliance to host an AmeriCorps team.Lynn schools boosted support this year for limited English speakers with planning started on a “wraparound” program aimed at increasing parental involvement and increasing spending on translation and language interpretation services.