But demand for adult education classes is rising
Pedro Montero attends class for two hours, Monday through Thursday, after his shift moving boxes in a textiles warehouse. He’s learning English so he can find a better job.
The 26-year-old moved to Providence a year ago from the Dominican Republic. He said he’s taking the English classes “because of the system – because you need it.”
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Rosa Montufar attends the same classes but for different reasons. She works in a manufacturing facility assembling rods for window treatments and blinds. At work most people speak Spanish, she said, except the supervisors.
But the 36-year-old Guatemalan wants to improve her broken English for her three children, she said. Her daughter gets tired of interpreting for her. And she wants to learn to write so she can fill out job applications, maybe work in an office, and gain more independence.
Rhode Island invests about $10 million in state and federal funds each year on adult education programs that have the capacity to serve about 10,000 people, said Johan Uvin, director of the state Office of Adult Education, which distributes the funds to community-based providers.
Yet an estimated 177,000 Rhode Islanders actually need literacy and/or English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes, Uvin said, citing U.S. Census data. About 35,000 are classified as limited-English-proficient.
Demand for ESL programs has been rising in recent years, Uvin said, and about 47 percent of adult education enrollees now take ESL classes. A March survey of 15 of the state’s 35 community-based adult education providers showed that more than 1,700 people are waiting for ESL classes, Uvin added – and about 900 have been waiting for at least a year.
“The need really reflects the change in our population in the last 10 to 12 years,” he said. “Foreign-born immigrants … many come with great skills but not necessarily the language.”
The statistics are no surprise to the state’s largest adult education providers. The International Institute of Rhode Island has 854 people waiting for its ESL night classes, said Nazneen Rahman, director of adult education. Two years ago it was more like 2,700, she said – an increase in state grants helped the nonprofit add classes to meet the demand.
About 75 percent of the ESL classes are for people at beginner levels, Rahman said. Most speak and understand very little English – or none at all.
“We’re all finding the same situation,” said Patricia Clarkin, director of evening and work force literacy programs at the Genesis Center, a Providence nonprofit that serves immigrants. “The waiting list is much larger at the lower end of the language skills.”
For those students who do get a slot, the challenges can still be substantial, said Jackie Kelly, director of adult education at the Institute for Labor Studies. Many work two jobs and have children to care for, she said. Some don’t have transportation or a babysitter.
The institute encourages employers to provide on-site ESL classes, and it runs the classes for 16 to 24 employers each year, Kelly said. But despite the benefits, many companies don’t provide such training, Kelly and others said.
“It’s not easy to get work site classes going – for whatever reason,” said Clarkin. “We go out and work hard to find employers. … I really believe employers and the state, if they feel it’s an important service for employees, they should be working with us more.”
“This is Rhode Island’s work force,” said Rahman. “It’s important for employers to invest in workers by giving them the education they need to improve skills.” And as workers develop their skills, she added, they can move up the ranks of the company.
Eric Pina, human resources manager at Ocean State Job Lot’s distribution center in North Kingstown, has seen it happen firsthand. One woman started in the warehouse at an entry-level position, he said, and after taking on-site ESL classes she took a clerical position
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Job Lot started providing ESL classes a year ago, Pina said. Teachers from the Community College of Rhode Island go to the warehouse for two hours once a week. The company pays workers for the first hour of class; the second is on their personal time.
The course costs nothing for the employer or employees, Pina added, because it’s funded through grants received by CCRI. About 85 percent of the distribution center’s 240 employees are Hispanic, Pina said, and demand for the ESL classes is so high that sometimes 45 people will sign up for the 15 slots.
As workers graduate from the ESL program, Pina said, it “certainly would help” if some rose into management, because “a lot of our managers are not bilingual.”
Taco Inc. has been providing ESL classes to its employees for about 15 years, said Kyle Adamonis, vice president of human resources at the Cranston manufacturing company.
About 26 percent of Taco’s 500 employees are Asian and about 10 percent are Hispanic, she said. The classes are essential for communication, she said – to help employees read the instructions for tasks or for machines, and to record quality information for products.
“We do sometimes have a waiting list,” she said.
Uvin noted that as the growth of the United States’ native-born population has slowed – in Rhode Island it has actually shrunk – immigrants are filling the gap in the work force.
“They are critical to our economic growth,” Uvin said. “You need your population and labor force to grow or you can’t grow your economy.”
