GACLA Head Serves as 2010 Chair of Inter-State Migrant Education Council
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Norman Bristol Colon, executive director of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs (GACLA), is serving as national chair of the Inter-state Migrant Education Council, or IMEC, during 2010.
Based in Washington, D.C., IMEC's mission is to advocate policies that ensure the highest quality education and other needed services for the nation's migrant children. Bristol Colon has been a member of IMEC since 2003.
"As a former migrant student, I experienced first-hand the struggles and sacrifices of migrant families," said Bristol Colon. "I am honored to serve as chair of this highly regarded council, and I am looking forward to working collaboratively with organizations and partners throughout the nation to improve the educational, health, social and living conditions of migrant students and migrant and seasonal farm-workers in Pennsylvania and the United States."
As chair, Bristol Colon will work with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Migrant Education, or OME. The OME administers programs that provide academic and supportive services to the children of families who migrate to find work in the agricultural and fishing industries. The programs are designed to help migrant students overcome the combined challenges of poverty, language, cultural barriers, and the migratory lifestyle in order to meet academic achievement standards.
In Pennsylvania, the Department of Education's Bureau of Student Services and Migrant Education works to assist migrant students and families. During the 2008-2009 school-year, the PA Migrant Education Program served 8,283 migrant students between the ages of 3-21.
Formed in 1971, the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, or GACLA, is the commonwealth's governmental agency responsible for addressing issues impacting Pennsylvania's Latino population before the executive and legislative branches of government.
For more information about GACLA, visit www.gacla.state.pa.us.
Media contact: Norman Bristol Colon, 717-783-3877
SOURCE Pennsylvania Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs
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