English Classes for New Arrivals

The historic migration of people to New York City continues and community organizations are rising to the task of welcoming these new neighbors and helping them succeed. 

In Brooklyn and the Bronx, New York Communities for Change (NYCC) is providing migrants with English classes that are a building block for success in the United States. 

“I’ve been in this country for not too long,” says Alberto, one of the students. “What motivated me to join the English classes is that I feel that learning English will open me to more doors and opportunities in this country. Where I work, they only speak English. Learning the language will help me communicate better.”

NYCC has been providing English classes since 2010. The program started with one class in East New York and another in Downtown Brooklyn, but quickly proved popular. Grocery workers, who had been organizing with NYCC against wage theft, started coming to the classes to learn English. Soon, the program expanded to other neighborhoods of Brooklyn as well as the Bronx, to serve the many communities where NYCC’s members live. Today, the organization offers twelve English classes across six sites in the city. 

During the pandemic, all classes shifted online. Now, some classes are online while others are in-person.

NYCC added computer, GED, and Spanish for English speakers to its roster of classes last year to meet the needs of its diverse membership, which includes many West Indian and African American New Yorkers.

The classes are supported by the Consortium for Worker Education’s Worker Service Center program, funded by the New York City Council. The Worker Service Center program supports education programs at community organizations across the five boroughs. 

“We wouldn’t have a program without CWE. We couldn’t have done this,” says Davenport. 

When students come to NYCC, they get more than an education. The classes provide a community and students can become members of NYCC if they want as well. 

The organization’s community organizers visit classes to educate students on issues affecting them as city residents and invite them to community events. In Sunset Park, students founded their own NYCC chapter to organize around issues in their community. 

“Students are getting advantages of English in the context of New York City issues and community organizing,” says Davenport. “Many are new to the country and they are learning how to be engaged. We want it to be a community, so people feel part of something and support each other.”

English-class students are primarily immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. Today, recent arrivals make up a majority of students in the introductory course. 

“It used to be that our students had been in the city for years,” says Davenport. “Now, many arrived just months ago, or even weeks. We are assessing what additional support we can provide and we are in touch with other organizations about how we can collectively respond to the needs that new arrivals have.”

“I came to this country to give myself a better opportunity,” says Monica, another student. “Where I work they speak only English. I want to be able to communicate with them in English and better myself to be able to work with them.”

Monica joined NYCC's English classes to better communicate with her coworkers.