Millersville University, which provides the instructional and support services for the Migrant Education Program for children in Lancaster, Berks, Lebanon, Lehigh and Northampton Counties, recently received a 5-year, $4 million annual grant. The grant is from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Millersville serves on average more than 2,500 migrant students and their parents and families in the region. The program supports the academic development of migrant students who have moved into the local public schools to help them achieve the same high standards as those students who have not experienced an interruption in their education caused by their migrant lifestyle.
“Millersville has hosted the Migrant Education Program for several decades and this new funding period ensures that we’re able to continue to provide high-quality academic and support services to eligible students in the five-county program region,” says Dr. George Drake, Dean of Education and Human Services. “This has been an annual state and federal funding award, so the five-year grant period provides a new level of recruitment and service delivery continuity for students, families, staff and program operations during the five-year period.”
“The Millersville University Migrant Education Program and its history are distinguished as the only grantee in higher education in Pennsylvania,” says David Baird, director of Millersville’s Migrant Education Program. “In addition, it’s the most densely populated region across a modest geography in terms of student enrollments and parent involvement. We offer a variety of supplemental academic programs and supports that dovetail directly with mainstream school and district instructional priorities.”
In central Pennsylvania, migrant workers are typically employed in dairy, vegetable and fruit harvesting, logging, food and meat processing, greenhouses, nurseries and other work in agriculture. Experienced Millersville University Migrant Education Program recruiters work within the community and local educational facilities to identify migrant families and enroll them to receive educational services for up to three years, or until they leave the area in search of employment in agriculture.
More information on the Migrant Education Program is available here.