The AFL-CIO has awarded $5,000 to Miller Street School in Newark, at the request of AFTNJ Vice President Awilda Rodriguez, a Kindergarten to 2nd-grade English as a Second Language teacher at the school. The money, to be used for school supplies and technology, is being awarded by the union federation in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington to support educating young people on the vital connection between workers’ rights and civil rights, the AFL-CIO said in a statement.
The money is much-needed and will go far, according to Newark Teachers Union-American Federation of Teachers President Joseph Del Grosso. Almost all Miller Street students qualify for free or reduced price lunches, a primary measure of poverty. “It is important for us to work together with the district and community allies like the labor movement to improve access to quality public education.”
Rodriguez, who has taught at Miller Street for 14 years, worked with the Principal to put together the application. The grant criteria included developing labor and community partnerships to stop school closures and reduce class size.