TO: Analusette Shaello-Johnson, Director, Municipal Youth Bureau, City of Binghamton

FROM: Naim AbdurRafi, Director, Binghamton Learning Center; 30 Main Street, Binghamton, New York 13905; (607) 729-0001                           

RE: Binghamton Learning Center GED Project Proposal

Ana –

This memorandum has a few purposes. The primary one is to outline what distinguishes the Binghamton Learning Center GED prep program from all others anywhere (we think)--especially those operating in the Binghamton area (we are certain).

The other purposes are served by my copying others who have an interest in what might become of my appeal to you for support of the project. I address some of those people in this memorandum.

BINGHAMTON LEARNING CENTER GED PROGRAM COMPETIVE EDGE

1. BLC GED targets poor adults, those unlikely to succeed. There will be marketing to achieve participation. There will be incentives to sustain participation. There will be short-term achievement recognitions to build belief (and sustain participation).  There will be linkages to employment and post-secondary education opportunities. Attention will be given to any distracting personal needs of clients. There will be small service fees along with penalties for absenteeism and tardiness so as to give value to the service in the eyes of clients as well as instill in clients a sense of ownership of the service. There will be more features of this kind--features that are standard fare for effective delivery of human development education and training to under-served populations.

2. The BLC GED mission is that those unlikely to succeed will succeed. The vision is that infused among the standard messages of the Binghamton poverty culture and street culture will be the message that to all is available economic improvement through the upgrading of education credentials and workplace skills--at the hands of BLC GED. The vision also is that the Binghamton wider community will prosper as a result of this message being in place.

3. BLC GED will apply to those caught in a cycle of poverty in Binghamton what is delivered to unlikely to succeed college students served by the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at SUNY campuses around the state. I worked for EOP at SUNY Oneonta for twenty-five years, twenty of which as the coordinator of academic support services. The BLC GED effort should suggest to EOP at Binghamton University that it can and should make the same effort, that the “downtown campus” should contain a component for the poor of Binghamton. The suggestion will be an invitation for a partnership. The same invitation is for BCCC. Such a partnership will directly benefit both colleges in the form of a continually expanding pool of local prospects.

4. A major distinctive feature of BLC GED is that operationally BLC GED will be a tutorial center accommodating one-to-one educational (and mentoring) interactions between a client and a well-trained paraprofessional tutor rather than a school accommodating classes taught by credentialed instructors.

5. Another distinctive feature is that pedagogically BLC GED will emphasize the employment of unique strategies to repair education foundations, i.e. that strengthen the 3R’s, as a means to building self-esteem. The result will be clients who are motivated to engage in independent learning and who are willing to solve problems (both academic problems and life problems). “Success builds on success.”

ATTENTION: The Reverend Arthur Suggs, Pastor, First Congregational Church, 30 Main Street, Binghamton 
Ana, you have suggested the vacant storefront on the southwest corner of Main and Front as a possible site for the center. The location is perfect because of its proximity to First Congregational Church, which is on the northwest corner of Main and Front. BLC has been occupying space in the church, providing support to Binghamton Preparatory School. Binghamton Prep will not operate this fall and the following spring, meaning that BLC no longer has a purpose for being in the space or a means to pay for it. BLC GED would provide both purpose and means. BLC GED must have space for administration and, most important, it must have space for training paraprofessional tutors. The church space is ideal.

ATTENTION: (Joann) Sabreen Cooper and Maliyka Muhammad, Administrators, Binghamton Preparatory School.
Maliyka and Sabreen, as we think about what current Binghamton Prep students will need beyond the primary grades, I encourage you to give consideration to a format similar to that proposed for BLC GED. That format favors considerable independent study supported by individualized mentoring at the hands of well-trained paraprofessionals over group instruction at the hands of credentialed (and therefore expensive) teachers. In considering the ages of current primary students, I see us initiating a middle school and high school program at the same church location after this year’s hiatus. The logistics and area of the church space are more than adequate to accommodate the administrative needs of BLC GED and all needs of Binghamton Prep.

Ana, thank you for your interest in the BLC GED Project. I anxiously await our next conference.