A nonprofit that offers free English language tutoring to Berkshire County residents is opening a new location in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The Lee-based Literacy Network, founded in 1991, largely focuses on preparing immigrants settling in the region with the skills they need to integrate into the community. That includes not just English, but test prep for high school equivalency programs, U.S. citizenship, and support for first-generation Americans heading to college. Its new satellite office opening Tuesday will be hosted at Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires’ recently opened location at 199 South Street. Executive Director Leigh Doherty tells WAMC that the two nonprofits are a match made in heaven for a shared space partnership.
DOHERTY: After Thanksgiving, we'll start with two days a week. So, we'll do one morning on Tuesdays and an afternoon on Thursdays, and we're just trying it out, seeing, how does it work, what does it feel like, and what does the partnership with VIM feel like, too? So, we're very hopeful.
WAMC: Now, obviously there's some hopes and some waiting and seeing going on, but as far as a grand ambition for the future of this expansion, what comes to mind? Are you looking forward to maybe having a like a full-time operation in Pittsfield in the future?
If the need calls for it, yes, indeed. Right now, we know that there is a need, and people have been managing to get to see us in Lee, learners, but sometimes it involves taking busses and catching a ride, and it's not always convenient, so we're hoping to provide convenience. Really, we need new tutors. So, we're really hoping also to explore the tutor market, the volunteer market, up in Pittsfield, to make it really easy for people who live in Pittsfield to be tutored by tutors who live in Pittsfield. So, that's a big goal for us as well.
Give us a snapshot of the literacy needs in Berkshire County in late 2024. Are there any trends or noticeable changes in the kind of services you're providing, or different audiences or different communities within the Berkshires that are particularly in need right now?
Yeah. I mean, we continue what we've been doing since 1991, is one on one tutoring, and we are just serving more learners than ever right now. We have 180 active learners that are that are being tutored, 40 on our waiting list. I know that's the same for other organizations that that provide ESOL services, English to Speakers of Other Languages. A couple new services we're providing, we're working with the first-generation college community. We're helping immigrants get their kids to college for those who want to go, providing tutors for the students, for college application support. We're providing workshops to parents in Spanish about the path to college. We're partnering with local schools on that front, and we're also trying to provide opportunities for immigrants who might not want to go to college but want to move ahead. So, we're having on November 2nd, actually, a conference we're calling ‘Beyond the Dish Room’ where we're partnering with a lot of local organizations to show opportunities to folks who want to move ahead in their life and their career.
Leigh, anything about this I’ve not thought to ask you that you want to make sure folks understand?
More and more immigrants are coming to our community. They're working in our community, they're helping our community be a successful community. I think people know that summer in the Berkshires wouldn't be the same without the immigrant community doing much of the work behind the scenes here, and they're raising their families here, they're our neighbors, and we all want them to be successful, so tutoring or donating to LitNet is a wonderful way to help move that along, move it forward.
