In September 2024, New York City’s public libraries received a $4 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation that will in part support English language and literacy programs for the asylum seeker population. Our recent report called for an increased investment in ESOL programs to prepare asylum seekers to enter the city’s workforce.

Our September 2023 study, Preparing Today's Asylum Seekers to Be Tomorrow's Workforce, revealed that New York City was struggling even before the pandemic to integrate the 2.79 million working-age foreign-born residents into its workforce, despite their potential to boost the city's economy. Our report documented several key areas where public investment in immigrant-serving workforce development programs has failed to keep pace with growing needs—and called out English classes in particular as an area where demand now far exceeds supply. In fact, our report found that the city's current capacity to provide English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classes is meeting just 4 percent of the need each year.

To help strengthen the city's immigrant-serving workforce development system overall, and help far more of the newest New Yorkers prepare for jobs once they receive work authorization, the Center for an Urban Future called for “an immediate funding boost for basic and intermediate ESOL programs run by CUNY, the city’s public library systems, and nonprofit training and literacy assistance organizations, which absorb the bulk of the demand.”

Although the city and state will have to step up support for English learners in the months ahead, we are thrilled to see that the Carnegie Corporation of New York is taking steps to help the city's public libraries meet more of these crucial needs. Carnegie recently announced $4 million in new grant funding for Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, and the New York Public Library, which will help libraries "meet the demand for English language learning and workforce development among adults." The Center for an Urban Future commends Carnegie for this much-needed investment in the city's social infrastructure and urges the city and state to make similar investments in the upcoming budget cycle.