NYU project helps city speak to immigrants

A group of Gallatin students wanted to help immigrants who don't speak English access the city's translation services.

"Within the ESL lessons, we will infuse leadership skills for parents so that they can better advocate on behalf of their children and their community," Gallatin sophomore Joseph Taranto said.

When they proposed this plan to NYU's Be a Changemaker Challenge, they won the grand prize - a $10,000 grant, a $500 Staples gift card and the chance to participate in special consulting opportunities.

Taranto and Gallatin juniors Elizabeth Smith and Ashley Furan proposed Promoting Immigrant Voices in Education, a program to inform immigrant parents about English translation and interpretation services that are provided by The New York City Department of Education.

"PIVE's long-term mission is to see broader participation and success in immigrant education," Furan said in an e-mail. "With the $10,000 grand prize, we are able to address language barriers in education, while also implementing a parent ESL [English as a second language] program."

The program will promote translation and interpretation services by holding community events and workshops, and will survey parents periodically to monitor their progress, Taranto said.

The university partnered with Youth Venture, an organization that assists teams of young people in starting their own "social ventures." All NYU undergraduate students were invited to compete for grants of up to $1,000 to launch their own social ventures. A total of 32 teams received grants, along with a tool kit to help them get their plans up and running.

"This is a great example of NYU's commitment to being a private university in the public service, and the role the NYU Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship plays in that effort," said Gabriel Brodbar, director of the Reynolds Program. "The response from the NYU community was tremendous, with over 300 undergraduate students from eight different schools participating. It showed how serious NYU students are about taking action to create change."

Students interested in applying for the grant took part in workshops last November and attended a speaker series throughout the academic year.

In teams of two or more, they submitted a business plan detailing their ideas for a "social venture." The plans were reviewed by a panel of New York community members to ensure the ideas met Youth Venture criteria.

There were many other noteworthy ventures, including plans for organic food in New York schools and free HIV testing in dorms. Each group had seven minutes to present its plan to the panel of judges.

"We have a lot of ideas and the enthusiasm to match, so it's always been a challenge to convey that in such a short amount of time," Furan said.

He added that their project will need effort from students outside their group, but he was confident they were on the right track.

For more information about PIVE, you can visit their blog at nypive.blogspot.com.