National Migrant Education Hotline
The National Migrant Education Hotline is free and accessible to migrant farmworkers and their families anywhere in the United States. The calls are answered by Hotline specialists 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Migrant workers can call the Hotline when they move to get help enrolling their children in school or for other educational services. There are preschool, summer school and high school equivalency programs all around the country and ESCORT can help migrant families access them.
Migrant educators can request promotional items that carry the National Migrant Education Hotline phone number so that families have the number with them as they move. Request forms are available in PDF and MS-Word formats. Instructions on submitting the request are included on the forms.
Photos of some of the promotional items are sometimes available. Please note that we don't have all of these on hand at any one time.Here is a sampling of just a few of the calls received in the last year:
In mid June 2007, a nineteen-year-old from Kentucky phoned seeking information on higher education opportunities for migrant youth. He shared that he was completing summer school courses necessary to obtain his high school diploma. Michael Hay, a regional coordinator, was contacted, and he reported that the youth was enrolled in the MEP. Michael was instrumental in providing assistance to the caller who eventually enrolled at Bluegrass Community & Technical College.
In mid December 2007, a recruiter in DeSoto County, Florida called to request assistance with a family who had recently moved back to Mexico. The family was in need of school records from Florida. The Hotline specialist was able to contact the mother in Mexico to find out what specific school records were being requested by the receiving school. This information was given to the recruiter in DeSoto who was then able to fax the necessary school records.
In December 2007, a mother of two children in Florida called the Hotline because she saw a flier with the number at a local market. The family had moved from North Carolina the year before, and the husband was working with the tomato crop in Florida. The Hotline specialist contacted the district migrant education program and provided the recruiter with information on the family. The recruiter reported back to the Hotline that the family was visited the following day and found eligible for the program.
Sometimes, calls to the Hotline involve emergency assistance for migrant families traveling to their next destination:
In January 2008, a caller in Texas contacted the Hotline for assistance with their vehicle. The family was planning to travel to Ohio for seasonal work. The car needed new tires in order to make the trip safely. The Hotline specialist contacted Phil Kellerman with the Harvest of Hope Foundation. The foundation was able to provide funding for the tires. The family was so appreciative that they called the Hotline back to offer their thanks in getting them the help they needed.
