Amnesty Program Earns Grant as Model for Other Colleges
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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