An English Class Event: Promoting Resources

Published by Program Manager on

An English Class Event: Promoting Resources

The ESL program at BIIN is the largest program, serving more than 70 students each week. English classes are a safe space where the community can gather and share their needs and goals. Aside from helping students improve their English proficiency, interns and volunteers serve as a primary liaison for the community. They take time to get to know students personally, and communicate the needs of English students. Through daily interaction, interns have realized that many of our students are ambitious and aspire to open their own businesses. In addition, interns take the time to contact all students when they miss class. Students do not miss class because they want to, but rather because they are suffering health issues or different life matters. Teachers and interns found two organizations that can help our community: Reach and C-Step.

Students are able to learn more about entrepreneurship through a presentation Reach provided in English classes.

Reach (www.agsreach.com)

Reach is a non profit organization whose mission is “to provide the resources required to help all members of the community acquire the skills and assets needed to achieve financial self-sufficiency, build transgenerational wealth, and prevail over the obstacles preventing them from achieving their fullest potential”. Reach provides useful information to people in the community wanting to start a business. They offered entrepreneurship classes to students in our English classes who would like to start their own business.

Students are able to learn more about entrepreneurship through a presentation Reach provided in English classes.

C-Step (texascstep.org/en/home-2/)

“The Texas Cancer Screening, Training, Education and Prevention Program, or Texas C-STEP, is conducted through the Texas A&M Health Family Care. Texas C-STEP provides critical safety-net services, such as cancer screenings and certain advanced diagnostics, to uninsured, underserved and low-income Texans through an established family medicine residency training program”. C-Step serves a vulnerable population that may not have access to healthcare or may have health needs that are overlooked. C-Step provides screenings for cancers that the community can take advantage of, while providing them a better quality of life.

The BIIN team continues to strive with our mission; to promote the human dignity and well-being of all immigrants in our community, and to advocate for and facilitate better access to legal, educational, and social services. We hope that BIIN can be a secure space for the immigrant community, where they can feel safe and adjust to life in the United States.

Thank you to the BIIN English class interns, and to Spring 2023 intern Chanwoo for reaching out to Reach and C-Step.