Support the Strengthening Communities through Education and Integration Act
On July 24, 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced the
Strengthening Communities through Education and Integration Act (S.3334/H.R.6617), which would invest
resources in the education of English language learners (ELLs) and empower communities to help newcomers
integrate into American society and maximize their social and economic contributions.
Among other things, the bill specifically would:
- Fund and support vital literacy programs for K-12 ELLs such as the Even Start Family Literacy program,
- Reinforce the Workforce Investment Act to provide more funding toward adult ELL and civics education,
- Provide tax credit incentives for employers to offer adult education and ELL classes, and
- Establish the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration in the Department of Homeland Security to set and assess national policies regarding newcomer integration and conduct research on the need for more and improved ELL programs and services.
The passage of this legislation would be extremely beneficial for Southeast Asian Americans. To date, Southeast
Asians from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam remain the largest group of refugees to be resettled in the U.S. among
recent arrivals. As those who arrived to this country as refugees, many Southeast Asian Americans lack formal
education and/or the ability to read and write in their native language, let alone in English. According to the 2000
Census, compared to 4% of the U.S. population, 32% of Cambodian-, 35% of Hmong-, 32% of Laotian-, and 45%
of Vietnamese American households are estimated to be linguistically-isolated--meaning that all persons aged 14
and over in the household speak English less than "very well".
The Strengthening Communities through Education and Integration Act would fund much needed programs so
that immigrants, including Southeast Asian refugees, with limited English skills can better access ELL and civics
education classes; and in doing so, gain access to the tools needed to become fully integrated into American
society and continue to contribute to the overall success of the United States.
Support S.3334/H.R.6617 by doing one of the following:
- Call and/or write to your congressional representatives by September 5, 2008 in support of the bill. Enclosed is a sample letter.
- Meet with your congressional representatives or their staff in their local offices between August 11 and September 5, 2008. The available sample letter [MsWord] may serve as sample talking points.
For further details about and/or updates on the bill, please visit http://thomas.loc.gov and insert either "S.3334" or
"H.R.6617" in the "Search Bill Text" fill-in field. For additional information or guidance on how to take local
action, please contact Soumary Vongrassamy at soumary@searac.org or (202) 667-4690, or Pang Houa Moua at
pmoua@advancingequality.org or (202) 296-2300 ext.122.
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