Amnesty Program Earns Grant as Model for Other Colleges
LONG BEACH — The Long Beach City College program for illegal immigrants was selected as the model community college amnesty program in the state and will be awarded a $40,000 grant to prepare materials and training for similar programs.
The program, in its fourth year at Long Beach City College, has provided the 40-hour English and citizenship course to nearly 7,500 illegal immigrants seeking legal status.
Last semester nearly 450 students enrolled in the amnesty program, accounting for a quarter of the enrollment in the college’s English-as-a-second-language program.
The state grant will be used to document the practices that have helped amnesty applicants succeed in more advanced community college courses.
The college has received more than $180,000 in federal funds to help students move into more advanced courses. That is in addition to the nearly $1 million it gets annually for offering the basic course.
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