In Hartford, a pilot program is not only helping adults that struggle with reading and writing improve their skills - it also aims to advance careers.
Learning and laughter go hand-in-hand at Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford. The organization offers free classes to English learners and other adults that struggle with literacy.
“Here, they gave me the opportunity to practice. They gave me the opportunity to get another kind of job, and practicing English with people, different countries,” Cecilia Laboy, a student who has completed several courses, said.
It is where Laboy sharpened her skills after moving to Hartford from Peru, eventually turning her improved literacy into food for thought.
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“The literacy volunteer helped me to find a job in a local store. I work in bakery,” Lavoy said.
She landed that job decorating cakes after completing a food handler course and a culinary program through the literacy center. Now she is taking the next step.
“Literacy will help me to find a job,” she said.
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Laboy is one of the first three graduates from a pilot program called ServSafe Food Production Manager. The students all aced the new 16-hour course that prepares them for the certification exam in food service management.
“Not only do we want to help our students, you know, get their foot into an industry, but then grow in that industry,” Stephen Morris, LVGH executive director, said. “Now they can move up in the culinary industry, and take on more and more responsibility, higher pay. And also the big thing is confidence.”
With the center serving more than 600 students each year from 40 countries, Morris said not only do these career advancement courses build up futures, but also the local economy.
“Right now there are a lot of jobs open, and a lot of companies are struggling to fill those positions,” Morris said. “Our student population is a group of people that can fill those holes, fill those gaps in the workforce. And so a lot of them, it's just getting over certain barriers.”
For Laboy, conquering the latest chapter only proves that through literacy, you can indeed begin to see the universe.
“They give me opportunities to show that I can make things. That's amazing,” she said.
Anyone who wants to sign up for literacy courses should go online to sign up at LVGH.org. The next ServSafe Food Production Manager class will start up in the fall.
