How Much Can Education Serve as a Mechanism for the Integration of Minorities and Immigrants?

DATE AND TIME

Monday, December 3, 2018
12:00 - 2:00 pm

LOCATION

AICGS
1755 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036

ABOUT EVENT

Immigration remains a political football in national and regional debates in Germany and the U.S. with clear consequences for electoral outcomes. Behind the scenes, the actual integration of persons with a migration background proceeds on a daily basis. Education has been a central mechanism for integration in both Germany and the United States. This seminar will identify specific educational programs, analyze the challenges they face, and evaluate their success. Özcan Mutlu, former member of the German Bundestag, will present the German perspective, and a representative from the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School (invited) will present the American perspective.

Özcan Mutlu is a Turkish-German Green Party politician and an expert on educational and integration policies. Between 2013 and 2017, he was Member of the German Bundestag. Prior to that he served as a Member of the House of Representatives in the State of Berlin from 1999 to 2013. From 1992 to 1999 he was an elected member of the district council of Kreuzberg. He is the founding member of the bilingual German-Turkish-European-School-Berlin. Thanks to his tremendous efforts, the Berlin International University of Applied Sciences was established in 2014. He has been a member of the International Advisory Board of the Bahcesehir University Istanbul since 2012. As a Marshall-Memorial Fellow of the German Marshall Fund and Young Leader of the Atlantik Brücke e.V. (ACG), he is active in the transatlantic dialogue as well. He also is Young Leader of the BMW-Quandt-Foundation and Mentor for the Deutschland Stiftung Integration. In 2007 he was selected as German-Israeli-Young-Leader of the Bertelsmann Foundation. In 2018 he became Mercator Senior Fellow of the Istanbul-Policy-Center (IPC) at the Sabanci University Istanbul. Since April 2018 Özcan Mutlu is the honorary President of the Para-Sport-Federation of Berlin.

Over the past 40 plus years, the Carlos Rosario School has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of immigrants by investing in and supporting their journey to achieve the American Dream. The School combines award-winning education, life skills programs, and support services to create a holistic experience. Their curriculum merges research on regional economic realities with professional field standards and is tailored to explicitly meet the needs of the local immigrant community. ESL instruction is embedded in life and technology skills, health education, parenting, civics, and workforce training. The School celebrates a long established local, regional, and national reputation for excellence and their programs are recognized as high quality and impactful. Thanks to the School’s programs, thousands of adults have obtained high school diplomas; passed the citizenship exam and become U.S. citizens; gained the English skills necessary to help their children with homework; entered into careers and climbed career ladders; paid millions of dollars’ worth of taxes; purchased homes; and obtained college degrees and workforce certifications.

A light luncheon will be served. Please contact Ms. Elizabeth Caruth with any questions at ecaruth@aicgs.org.