West Michigan hosts a variety of communities and languages, but for many residents, English is a part of everyday life. It’s a language that, in Michigan, can provide access to vital resources like healthcare and education.
“We have to help a lot of refugees and people who have limited English proficiency,” Minnie Morey, Executive Director of the West Michigan Asian American Association said. “There’s a lot of need in learning literacy, things that they need to get around in the community.”
WMAAA recently received a $10,000 grant from the DTE Energy Foundation, which it’s using to fund pre-literacy English classes this fall. According to Morey, these are basic reading and writing lessons, a stepping stone to what she calls “regular English as a Second Language classes.” Morey added, it is an important step for someone preparing for citizenship courses.
“We appreciate that the DTE Foundation understands the difficulties that the new Americans are going through in learning English and to be able to go to a class which is near their home.”
The classes will be offered in Nepali, Vietnamese, Burmese and Chinese. Along with Asian languages, Morey says the group is supporting African Refugees with classes in Swahili as well.
More information on classes can be found here.
