Page 7 - CNA Annual Report for 2017 FINAL.pdf

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eachers have long remarked that providing childcare not only opens doors to parents who
Twant to learn English; it helps non-English-speaking children prepare for school. With support
from Community Development Block Grants and the Bete Family Foundation, we offered childcare
in Amherst and Turners Falls. In some cases we were able to hire former students as childcare
providers, and we tasked another former student, Marise Lyra, a current teacher and childcare
professional, to guide and supervise them. Children and parents practice English in their respective
classrooms. In addition, with assistance from the Franklin County Council of Governments, we
applied for and received a donation of a van from the Franklin Regional Transit Authority. Twelve
parents and children were transported to class this summer in our new van!

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or many, the stories of recipients of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), are the stuff of newspaper articles.
FFor Center for New Americans, these stories represent the very real struggles of current students and their children.
And the stories of refugees from Iraq and Iran are shared with Center for New Americans’ staff as we help them to apply
for citizenship. The record number of applications over the past year – for citizenship, for family petitions, for DACA
renewals – threatened to overwhelm the region’s capacity to serve all the immigrants needing legal services. Thanks to out-
of-the-box thinking by William Newman, A.C.L.U attorney, and Harris Freeman, Western New England University School
of Law professor, Center for New Americans and other immigration legal services providers collaborated to establish
the Immigrant Protection Project, to offer a coordinated community response to immigrants’ legal needs in Western
Massachusetts. Center for New Americans is proud to participate in this innovative support network in partnership with
our pro bono immigration attorneys, Joseph Best and Scott Clark.
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hen Degaulle applied for Center for New Americans’ personal care attendant training, offered this past summer at
WSmith Vocational & Agricultural High School, he was working three jobs. Nevertheless, he
assured staff that he would attend classes 6 hours every Saturday, stay current with the homework, Healthcare class
and maintain his participation in English class. He kept his word, completed the 60-hour course,
and was recently hired by Cooley Dickinson Healthcare as a patient observer.

Made possible with a pilot grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education, the personal care attendant training was implemented in partnership with Smith
Vocational & Agricultural High School, which opened the doors to its health technology suite; the
Tripp Memorial Foundation, which developed the curriculum; the Franklin Hampshire Regional
Employment Board, which contributed a healthcare jobs navigator; the Franklin Hampshire Career
Center, which hosted a Jobs Fair; healthcare employers, who agreed to interview our graduates; a
healthcare teacher who communicated weekly with Center for New Americans’ English teachers;
English teachers who reinforced vocabulary and healthcare concepts in class; career advisors who helped students draft
resumes and role play interviews; retired nurses who volunteered as tutors; and highly motivated students.

ur students and clients told their stories in many other ways. They sang, danced, read On stage at
Opoems at our second annual Immigrant Voices: A Celebration of Arts at the Shea Theater Immigrant Voices: A Celebration of Arts
in April.

They shared the struggles and victories of their journeys to citizenship with reporters at
our 9 annual naturalization ceremony on the grounds of the Hampshire Superior Court in
th
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Northampton, July 4 .
And, thanks to a grant from the Northampton chapter of The Awesome Foundation,
our alumna, Maricella, brought our work to life in the colorful mural she painted in our
Northampton program site. Our volunteer, Mary Ellen Kelly, photographed Maricella as she
painted, telling the story of Maricella telling our story.

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS 2017 ANNUAL REPORT PAGE 5