New Program For Local Businesses

New Program For Local Businesses

This fall, LVA-PW was awarded a generous matching grant from the Virginia Literacy Foundation (VLF) to expand our ESL program offering to the local business community. We recently completed a pilot program to offer instruction with a local employer: El Paso Mexican Restaurant on Golansky Blvd in Woodbridge. Our 9-week program helped native Spanish speakers with English Language Learning, customer service skills, using small talk, and suggestions on describing and up-selling menu items. One of the graduates, Reina said “Now I can do things, I can go to the pharmacy, talk to my children’s teachers. I am not afraid. No more am I afraid, I know I can do this!” We have another pilot program in the works for a local McDonald’s.

The VLF funding will help us expand our services to benefit local employers with immigrant employees who need help with English, customer service and better understanding their job. Each program is custom-tailored to the needs of the employer with performance measures and expected outcomes. If you know of an employer who could use our expanded service offerings, have them contact us today at 703-670-5702 or lvapw@lvapw.org.