Migrant Center

Bienvenido • Bienvenue • Welcome

Mission Statement

To join with local, state and national agencies and organizations to improve education and related services for migrant children and their families through the development and study of programs and training addressed at specific needs.

Among the Center's initiatives are the following:

The investigation and demonstration of model strategies for assisting students from migrant and seasonal farmworker families who have dropped out of school in continuing their education

- With the university and surrounding community as a "learning laboratory", migrant students from throughout the states of Florida and Georgia who have dropped out of school are brought to campus to earn their high school diplomas and acquire skills in academic, social, residential and vocational areas that will equip them to choose the course of their future.

- To date, over twelve hundred students from migrant and seasonal farmworker families have participated in the High School Equivalency (HEP) project, which is funded through the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Migrant Education.

Research and demonstration of effective practices to recruit and support students from migrant and seasonal farmworker families in higher education

- Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Migrant Education, The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) assists eligible participants from migrant and seasonal farmworker backgrounds in completing their first year of college. Approximately thirty students per year participate in the program.

University scholarships to support youth from migrant families to prepare for careers as teachers

- As a result of private endowments, students who have participated in programs through the Center are being supported with tuition scholarships from the Florida Tomato Exchange, Sunripe and Florida Strawberry Grower's Association in the College of Education. Currently, four education majors from migrant farmworker families are receiving scholarships and eleven who have already graduated are working as teachers. As these endowments continue to grow, more students will be supported each year.

Florida Tomato Exchange Scholarship

Sunripe Scholarship

Florida Strawberry Association Scholarship

Leadership in developing partnerships with agencies and organizations serving farmworkers

- Currently, the Center is a partner on the federally funded ANCHOR School Project. With SERVE as the lead agency, this project is designed to provide a technological and human lifeline for migrant students who move between school districts in Florida and between the states of Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Partners in this project include the Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina Departments of Education; Lee, Collier and Gadsten County Schools, NASA; Garguilo; and ESCORT.

- The San Jose School, a traveling school for migrant children who move between Ohio and Florida, was a result of another partnership. A recent partnership for which the Center was the lead agency was a state funded initiative to develop a plan for starting a rural Full Service Center for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers. Partners in this project included the University of South Florida Institute for At-Risk Children, the Hillsborough County School District, Hillsborough County Employment and Training, the Hispanic Needs and Services Council, the Florida Department of Labor, and the Redlands Christian Migrant Association.

Evaluation of Federal and State programs serving migrant children and their families

- A recently completed project in partnership with the At-Risk Institute focused on developing a model for designing and conducting the external evaluation of Florida's Migrant Education Even Start Programs.

The training of teachers who work with migrant and seasonal farmworker children who have disabilities

- A federally funded project focused on training both special and general education teachers to work with migrant students who have disabilities. Over two hundred (200) teachers from rural areas of Central Florida participated in the project. A videotape, "Teachers are the Difference", produced in both English and Spanish was also a result of this project. Most recently, Center staff presented strategies for working with migrant youth with disabilities who drop out of school at the National Migrant Education conference.

Research and dissemination of new knowledge, practices and perspectives in the area of migrant education.

- To view a list of publications click here.

- Several referred journal articles and many conference presentations related to the education of individuals from migrant farmworker families have been generated through Center initiatives. In addition, several doctoral students have received Center support and supervision to conduct research with Migrant students.