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Advocates urge larger investments in language access, adult literacy and worker supports as ICE activity spikes
Summary
During the MOIA budget hearing, community organizations and service users urged expansion of multilingual outreach, adult-education seats, ESL programming and worker-protection investments, citing demand that outstrips current funding and recommending new city funding streams and baseline increases.
Multiple community-based organizations, providers and program participants testified during the public-comment portion of the Committee on Immigration hearing about the critical role of language access, adult literacy and worker supports for immigrant New Yorkers.
Ira Yanquet of the Literacy Assistance Center and partners said roughly 2.2 million New Yorkers have limited English proficiency and argued the mayor should fund a new $20 million adult-education stream in FY27 to increase seats and ensure access regardless of immigration status. "Fewer than 3% of these New Yorkers are able to access adult basic education, GED, or ESOL classes in any given year," Yanquet said.
Speakers from the Asian American Federation and Coalition for Asian American Children and Families requested funding for the Language Justice Collaborative and the Access Health NYC initiative, arguing that trusted, multilingual community organizations are the most effective pathway to health care and public-benefit access when federal rules and fear keep people away.
Worker-justice groups and worker leaders (Workers Justice Project, Street Vendor Project) described recovering millions in wages for delivery and day-labor workers, running safety trainings and organizing workplace campaigns, and asked the council to continue and expand investments in the Daily Labor Workforce Initiative, construction-site safety training, and a vendor-focused program that serves an estimated 23,000 vendors (96% immigrant). "We distribute emergency-planning kits and multilingual know-your-rights materials across 144 ZIP codes," said Karina Kaufman Gutierrez of the Street Vendor Project.
Community representatives emphasized the compounding effect of federal policy changes, increasing application costs, and detention risk on service demand. Advocates asked the committee and MOIA to ensure translated materials and outreach are available in top languages, baseline city-funded language access and to coordinate with 311 and schools so information reaches the people who need it.
Ending: Several organizations submitted specific dollar requests and asked the council to convert one-shot or short-term discretionary awards into stable baseline programs before the executive-budget cycle.
