Lutheran Family Health Centers’ Bridge to Health Careers is an education and training program that prepares 40 immigrant workers each year for career-track entry-level health care positions such as Certified Nursing Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Medical Office Associate and EKG Technician. Participants are supported throughout the training and placement process by a host or wraparound supports to facilitate the transition into the world of work. Once they have secured employment, participants receive retention support to ensure job stability and promote advancement. Bridge has been serving community members since 2006 and is part of Lutheran Family Health Centers’ Community Empowerment Program (CEP) and is based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, an industrial manufacturing area with a largely low-income immigrant population. The program is managed by CEP’s Vocational ESOL Teacher/Coordinator and a team of vocational and family support counselors, MSW interns and AmeriCorps members. The Bridge program has an eight-part model: intake, goal-setting, ESOL/job readiness, professional skill training, internship, job search, job placement, retention support. Each step of the program is supported by vocational counselors and Family Support case managers.

Once a week we offer English language conversation to students from around the world. We also offer assistance to the students in this program as they prepare for both the citizenship exam and the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) exam.

Located in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, Mercy Center currently serves more than 2,500 people every year. It began in 1990 to respond to the needs of parents living in its inner city neighborhood. Over the years, Mercy Center has expanded to actively address three critical problems in Mott Haven: unemployment and economic poverty, violent and oppressive behaviors in families and in the community, and the feeling of powerlessness and estrangement that accompanies the isolation of the immigrant experience.

Since 2004, the International Center has played an integral part in two of those three areas. By participating in our collaborative program at Mercy Center, the learners improve their English, becoming more employable. At the same time, learners are meeting and getting to know Americans, establishing deeper connections to this country, and lessening their isolation. The connections made through the conversation partnerships are creating stronger and more integrated communities, broadening both the learners’ and the volunteers’ perspectives. One learner who is studying English after living in the Bronx for 33 years expressed her delight with Mercy Center for exposing her to new things and people: “I feel happy with the Mercy Center for opening the doors to the International Center...for helping the students to be connected to the International Center.”

The Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center (MMALC), run by the New York City Department of Education through the Office of Adult and Continuing Education (OACE), is the major provider of adult literacy and family literacy services in New York City. Its mission is to promote personal empowerment and gainful employment by teaching decision-making and problem-solving skills. The Center’s services include basic education, English as a Second Language, career and technical education, and employment preparation.

Each year, OACE offers more than 750 classes serving 60,000 adults throughout the city, in schools and community-based organizations, days and evenings, Monday through Saturday. OACE operates three Adult Learning Centers, in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.

Once a week, we offer conversation partnerships to students who come mostly from Francophone Africa and Latin America, helping them put into practice what they have learned in their ESOL classes and through living in New York. As one volunteer said after participating in the pilot, “I feel that the program was extremely beneficial. Meeting with the ICNY volunteers enabled the students to engage in low-pressure, small-group conversations about daily life. It also presented the