![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-l-adult-education-cuts-03_231145816.jpg\")
A student takes the preassessment exam for a GED course on July 7, 2025, at the nonprofit A Safe Haven Foundation in North Lawndale. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\nJoe Walsh spiraled deep into a depression after he lost his two siblings. It landed him at a men\u2019s shelter at Rogers Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy life fell apart, and everything was a mess, and I was trying to hold the family together,\u201d said Walsh, a former mariner from Peoria. \u201cI had to make a decision to save my own life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the 36-year-old sat at a desk in a sunlit classroom. Beside him were seven other men, most of whom were also unhoused or in recovery. For two weeks at A Safe Haven Foundation in North Lawndale, they\u2019d worked on resumes, job applications and interviews. Several planned to transition into the foundation\u2019s vocational training programs.<\/p>\n
For the first time in months, Walsh allowed himself a bit of hope. He plans to take a welding course next, and has started reconnecting with family members.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I\u2019m more independent, just kind of rebuilding my life,\u201d Walsh, 36, said. \u201cI\u2019m able to talk to my kids again.\u201d<\/p>\n
But those classes \u2014 and other adult education programs nationwide \u2014 are in limbo after the Trump administration abruptly froze nearly $7 billion in already-approved federal education grants last week. State agencies were notified the night before funds were set to be disbursed July 1, with little explanation from the Education Department.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the latest in President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping offensive to cut back the federal government\u2019s role in education, leaving schools and nonprofits scrambling to stretch funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s created havoc in the whole system,\u201d said Mark Mulroe, president of A Safe Haven. \u201cIt\u2019s just like a cleaver, without any ability to transition into it.\u201d The nonprofit provides transitional housing across the Chicago area and other social services including GED classes.<\/p>\n
In addition to adult education, the affected grants support before- and after-school activities, teacher training and English-language support. The grants were already appropriated by Congress through continuing resolution and signed into law by Trump in March.<\/p>\n
The Education Department said it paused funding \u201cgiven the change in Administrations,\u201d noting that it \u201cremains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President\u2019s priorities.\u201d Some Democrats have criticized the withholding of money as illegal.<\/p>\n
In his weekly message on their website, Illinois State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders denounced the frozen funds as \u201cdeeply disruptive, irresponsible and damaging to Illinois\u2019 1.9 million public school students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amid a national literacy crisis, Chicago nonprofits say the country\u2019s adult education infrastructure is particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n
More than 43 million U.S. adults possess low literacy skills, meaning they have difficulty reading beyond a third-grade level, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The grants pay for high school equivalency preparation, English language instruction, citizenship education and vocational training.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrengthening and supporting adult education can only strengthen and support the workforce,\u201d said Sarah Taylor, the regional director of adult education at World Relief Chicagoland, a refugee resettlement agency. \u201cThese cuts would look pretty devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Illinois was set to receive about $17 million in Adult Education Basic Grants, as well as nearly $3 million in Adult Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education Grants, which specifically support citizenship and classes in English as a second language. A large portion of that money goes to community colleges across the state.<\/p>\n
Most organizations with adult education classes expect to lay off employees, crimp course offerings or even ask some students to pay tuition. Several voiced frustration that the programming has become embroiled in politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do is essential for everyday life, and it\u2019s outside of political bounds. It\u2019s serving the whole community,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Back in the classroom, Walsh chatted with the student next to him: 17-year-old Tristan Paris, a Champaign native who was released from a juvenile detention center three months ago.<\/p>\n
Paris knew he got mixed up in the wrong crowds at a young age, he said. But he felt like a kid again in a school setting, sitting in the front row, scribbling notes and raising his hand in class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve noticed that I\u2019ve improved quite a bit, and that I could really make something out of myself if I keep applying myself,\u201d Paris said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s planning on taking welding next \u2014 one of several certifications in high-demand fields offered by A Safe Haven. On average, 72% of participants secure employment after completing the nonprofit\u2019s workforce training. For those in transitional housing, adult education is a long-term investment, said Associate Director of Operations Jeremiah Martin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t give them the opportunity to get a job or participate in a vocational capacity, then that ends up actually costing us more along the way because of what we have to pay for in food stamps, subsidized housing or Medicaid,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
A student takes the preassessment exam for a GED course on July 7, 2025, at the nonprofit A Safe Haven Foundation in North Lawndale. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Higher literacy levels are directly correlated to higher income, number of weeks worked, children\u2019s success in school and family health, according to the Illinois Community College Board, which oversees the state\u2019s community college system. ICCB says it tailors adult education to meet the vocational needs of Illinois\u2019 economy.<\/p>\n
At the Chinese Mutual Aid Association in Uptown, which provides social services to immigrants and refugees, students are taught skills like dialing 911, speaking to health care providers and opening a checking account \u2014 \u201cfundamentals of navigating U.S. society,\u201d according to Rhea Yap, director of strategic initiatives. Students also select a career path when they register for a class.<\/p>\n
CMAA serves close to 1,000 low-income English learners each year, but student enrollment could drop by 75% if the nonprofit loses federal funding. The program also employs 33 adult education and workforce staff who could face layoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be painful,\u201d Yap said. \u201cWe have educators where this is their livelihood, and they find a lot of meaning in serving others. \u2026 It\u2019ll have a really devastating effect on the delivery of education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even before the Education Department announced the frozen funds, the affected grants were zeroed out in Trump\u2019s discretionary budget request for fiscal year 2026. According to the request, \u201cK-12 outcomes will improve as education returns to the States, which would make remedial education for adults less necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a large contingent of adult learners are immigrants who were educated in other countries. The Pui Tak Center, a church-based community center in Chinatown, serves about 500 students per term \u2014 nearly all of them Chinese. Many had successful careers before they came to the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just so illogical and non sequitur. \u2026 It has nothing to do with the state of K-12 education here in America,\u201d Sarah Huang, the center\u2019s adult ESL and job training manager. \u201cWe have people that are doctors in China, but they just don\u2019t know English.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anecdotally, students are eager to participate in vocational programs and join the workforce, organizations said. But particularly for immigrants and English learners, remedial education and ESL classes serve as a necessary first step.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all here for the American Dream,\u201d said Milon Trilling, volunteer coordinator for the Indo-American Center in West Ridge, a nonprofit that serves South Asian immigrants. \u201cThey\u2019re not here to take, they want to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the last day of the program, staff members gathered in A Safe Haven\u2019s classroom to pass out laminated certificates of completion. Paris got another surprise \u2014 he won first place in the course\u2019s mock interviewing competition.<\/p>\n
He sauntered up to the front of the class with a grin on his face, bowing his head as his instructor placed a gold medal around his neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m never taking this off,\u201d Paris said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Walsh spiraled deep into a depression after he lost his two siblings. It landed him at a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[37070,64,960,37072,17452,69,407,37071,26865,5386,1818,80,4352],"class_list":{"0":"post-48446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-adult-education-programs","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-schools","12":"tag-department-of-education","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-education","15":"tag-education-grants","16":"tag-federal-funding","17":"tag-il","18":"tag-illinois","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-trump-administration"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114817162299564190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}