FEBRUARY, 2024: Oasis—A Haven for Women and Children received an Impact100 Garden State $100,000 grant in June 2023 and put the funds to work immediately in their busy English as a second language (ESL) program.
Oasis provides daily English classes in their Paterson facility for more than 200 impoverished immigrant women, helping them integrate into the community and improve their economic well-being. To supplement the language classes, Oasis offers childcare, meals, clothing, counseling, and a supportive community.
Oasis reports that the need for ESL in the Paterson area is burgeoning, and their classes have attracted more students than ever before. In fact, it’s not unusual for entire families to arrive at their facility on Saturdays (the only day men are welcome), when Oasis offers ESL and other educational programs for adults and enrichment activities for children. Oasis believes their intergenerational services help equip families with the resources they need to rise out of poverty.
Here are some highlights from Oasis’s first six months using Impact100 Garden State grant funds to pay for skilled ESL instructors:
- 30 women completed the 6-week summer ESL program at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.
- 73 women completed the Saturday ESL program.
- 120 women completed the fall weekday ESL at four language levels.
- 19 students attended a seven-week citizenship program, which helped them complete their citizenship applications and prepare for the citizenship test, including seven students who had citizenship interviews in the fall.
- 80% of Oasis ESL students showed at least 20% improvement in English language proficiency.
Challenges met
One priority for Oasis is ensuring that women can actually attend classes. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for women to register and not complete the program because of numerous barriers, including the need for childcare, other responsibilities at home, and economic issues. Offering free childcare—also funded by the Impact100 Garden State grant—eliminates one of those hurdles. During the fall session, Oasis’s childcare program hosted 42 infants and toddlers, enabling the mothers to attend classes and receive other services. Oasis reports that the attendance rate for that semester was “well over 65%”—a number they consider “a significant accomplishment.”
Two other examples of the program’s creativity and resourcefulness stand out.
First, teachers recognized that basic phonics and letter recognition are a challenge for students with limited formal education from their home country and for students whose first language does not use the English alphabet. To address that problem, Oasis began offering a weekly phonics class to help students build letter-sounding skills. Students were also able to practice phonics in individual sessions with volunteers.
Second, Oasis started an “English café” to give students the opportunity to have engaging, real-life conversations with native English speakers and to practice for citizenship interviews. In the fall semester, 29 women completed this supplementary program. One English café volunteer noted that café sessions were as much about community as they were about practicing English. She said the informal structure of the sessions, which rely on open-ended questions and games, fostered a safe and supportive environment. Oasis believes this welcoming space for language learning gives students a reprieve from the daily stressors of life in a very challenging urban environment and helps them envision a better future for themselves and their families.
Oasis’s ESL program is having a real and often transformative effect on participants’ lives. One student was pleased to be able to communicate better at her son’s IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings, which was challenging for her before taking ESL classes. Another student got her first job in the U.S., working 30 hours a week at a retail store, and she is studying for citizenship.
For more information about Oasis, go to https://oasisnj.org/.
