What We Mean to Achieve

The Education Task Force (ETF) is an alliance of organizations and civic leaders, including students, people receiving public assistance and low-income organizers, educators, advocates, service providers, elected officials and other individuals working positively to realize an education agenda that is meaningful to all New Yorkers. SEED-NY provides meeting facilitation and process design to support the ETF in its strategic expansion, cross-jurisdictional dialogue, and creative collaboration.

The mission of our multi-sector alliance is to create systems of access to education and training through which all New Yorkers are empowered to determine and pursue their own educational destiny.

Why

Education is at the bedrock of the American value system and an important feature of income production for middle, low-income and people moving out of poverty. Yet, current education policies frustrate access, locally and nationally, often because there is a lack cross-jurisdictional synchronicity of law with implementation. For example, had the work-study and internship law existed five years earlier (read below), many of the 23,000 City University of New York (CUNY) students receiving public assistance who were forced to drop out of college, would have been able to continue matriculation, obtain a college degree, and achieve economic security.

Further, with improved local implementation processes, thousands more students could already have been encouraged to re-enroll, in accordance with new state mandates. Based on their recent experiences, the ETF leaders know that deep dialogue with an ever-expanding range of diverse stakeholders can advance a common language and fertile ground for co-creating life-giving programs and policies that get implemented. The ETF is cultivating new allies to make this difference together.

How We Came to Be
Deep Dialogue Makes a Difference
Who We Are
Results


The ETF Welcomes Your Ideas and Contributions!

To get a glimpse of what the ETF is working on now, see their VISIONS AND MILESTONES here. Your input is welcome and encouraged.

(You will need Adobe Acrobat to view the "Visions and Milestones" document)


SEED also welcomes financial contributions (Make a Donation) for its ongoing assistance to bring out the brilliance in this exciting alliance of New Yorkers.


For more information about the Education Task Force, to share ideas and explore ways to get involved, contact:

Maureen Lane, Co-Director Welfare Rights Initiative:
mlane@hunter.cuny.edu , or

Bich Ha Pham, Executive Director Hunger Action Network of New York State:
bhpham@hungeractionnys.org