I took an interesting trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and while I was there, I visited Little Mexico, where many Mexicans live.  In one of the stores, a Puerto Rican woman told me that many people ask her where they can study GED.  Another saw the headline of my article about amnesty and said it was a lie.  It is not a fact or a lie, just an opinion I told him.  In a Brazilian restaurant on Kings Highway, which is close to the Grand Strand, a Brazilian woman who recently arrived from Boston told me that most Brazilians need the GED, but, unfortunately, they have to learn English to take the test.  These women want to help their community and we will work together from now on.

I also read an article in a local newspaper that said that the children in Louisiana did among the worst in the nation on tests.  In other words, No Child Left Behind is not working for them.  Does the White House know about this?  Please see my article called “No Child Left Behind Should Be Investigated” which was written days after Katrina took place.  And it is not only New Orleans.  New York has the South Bronx, Hempstead, Roosevelt, Wyandanch, Central Islip, Brentwood, and Amityville.  These are neighborhoods with large amounts of high school desertion, a desertion that repeats itself year after year and the parents there cannot play as effective a role as parents in districts where the educational levels are higher.  No Child Left Behind should be replaced by No Person Left Behind.

I watched the President’s address to the nation and the Democratic response from Governor Kaine of Virginia.  Then I read about the appointment of Senator Boehner of Ohio.  The key word that I heard from the Democrats and Republicans was “service.”  The Republicans in Congress cut two-thirds from the adult education budget and that falls under less service, much less.  In the last three years of record for GED statistics, Ohio tested 101 people in Spanish and cut out testing Hispanics in 2002.  Virginia and Ohio were only slightly above the national average in the delivery of GED’s to their residents, but Ohio had a much higher improvement from 2002 when there a big drop nationally in the number of diplomas.  What is really significant is that Ohio has about two thousand fewer diplomas annually since 1997-1999 and Virginia has kept up its average.  Ohio residents have become much less competitive because of this. 

The President announced that he is putting more money into math and science to keep Americans more competitive.  What about GED money to keep Americans more competitive?  We need a conference of governors to address the lack of literacy and preparedness of adults now.  And we need educational forums for adults, young and old, to show them that the budget cuts have hurt them much more than they realize.  The math and science initiative of our President will never reach the tens of millions who do not have a GED and the tens of millions who have high school diplomas too.  These people are our friends and neighbors!

Before and after arriving in Myrtle Beach, I made stops that were very productive.  I stopped in the Congress of the United States and the offices of the NAHP, LCLAA, and the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Caucus, greeting friends of my campaign.  I thank the NAHP for publishing my GED Roundtable article on its website.  Jesse Rios and Cesar Morales of LCLAA are giving me the use their large conference room for my GED Roundtable in the AFL-CIO building, and it was nice to chat with Octavio Hinojosa and take back his pamphlet to pass out at my GED Roundtable in New York.  The networking that we need so badly to help the Hispanic community is taking place and it is taking place on a national level.  Soon it will be on an international level.

On my way home from South Carolina, I had a meeting that was arranged quickly through Governor Kaine’s office with the GED administrators in Richmond, Virginia.  I invited Dr. Elizabeth Hawa and Robert MacGillivray to my GED Roundtable in Washington, D.C.   It was made clear to me that that the GED office is prohibited from spending public funds on Spanish GED programs.  This presents major problems for Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics who live in that state.  It impacts on Hispanic immigrants who drop out of school and all other adults.  Where do they get help?  Obviously most of them will not get any help until new programs are established.  There are never enough GED programs in all languages and this is where the churches can play a role in helping the community.  Hispanic Churches can network with me to provide help.  My friend and colleague, Reverend Jose Lantigua, wants to place three hundred or more GED graduates annually in Christian colleges in the New York Metropolitan area that he is closely associated with.  Church leaders can do the same thing in Virginia and the model will be established for the other states and Puerto Rico to follow.

When I returned home, I had a message from Robert Mason, Director of Community Partnerships for the GED Testing Service stating that he wants to attend the GED Roundtable in New York and on Saturday, I was invited to the Consulate of El Salvador to attend a meeting with people from the GSA or Grupo Sicoterapia de la Linea del Dr. Ayala (in thirty-three states of the United States), an organization that has treated a huge amount of Hispanics for alcoholism and drug addiction in many countries.  Dr. Walter E. Mendoza asked me if he could come to the GED Roundtable too. One of the guests in the consulate told us that he is finishing his high school diploma in night school.  He told the group that fifteen of his friends had dropped out of high school and none were studying GED yet.  I gave him my card and told him that his friends can get immediate help. The GSA can be great to work with in reaching out to Hispanic communities everywhere and in building a stronger bridge of communication when the GED comes soon to El Salvador and other countries.

Any organization that is interested in attending the GED Roundtable in Washington, D.C. may contact me.