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Migrant Education Resource Center

Client: United States Department of Education/Office of Migrant Education (USDOE/OME)

The U.S. Department of Education/Office of Migrant Education (USDOE/OME) in 2006 awarded URC's Center for Human Services (CHS) a five-year contract to establish a Migrant Education Resource Center (MERC) in the United States. As the prime contractor, URC-CHS draws on more than 20 years of experience providing education programs to migrant and seasonal farmworkers and outreach to Hispanic/Latino populations in the U.S.

The Migrant Education Resource Center is established under the auspices of the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Act, also known as No Child Left Behind. This landmark legislation is designed to change the culture of America’s schools by closing the achievement gap among groups of students.

The children of our nation’s farmworkers are particularly vulnerable. In addition to the language, cultural barriers and poverty, the children of migrant farmworkers move with their parents from place to place and school to school. They often fall behind in their studies and are at high risk of dropping out of school. Additionally, teachers and school administrators face difficulties identifying and enrolling migrant students and providing them with appropriate and supplemental services.

MERC assists state migrant education programs with meeting the numerous and unique challenges faced in identifying, enrolling, and providing the children of migrant farmworkers with a continuous quality education.

URC-CHS Services

• Provide technical assistance, training, and dissemination of best practices to state education directors in support of migrant child identification and recruitment activities. This is accomplished through a 66-lesson, 44-hour trainning curriculum for migrant education staff throughout the country. Training is being delivered through state departments of education;
• Establish a peer-to-peer network within the U.S. to increase the knowledge and skills of migrant educators and to share innovative and practical ways to improve programs for migrant students; and
• Create a web-enabled resource library and interactive training program

Geographic Focus

Nationwide

URC-CHS Partners

• EnCompass, LLC
• Social & Health Services, Ltd. (SHS)
• Support Services International (SSI)

For more information

Contact Paula Errigo at perrigo@urc-chs.com. Visit the MERC web site at http://www.mercweb.org.

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