Maria
The advocate was able to provide her with a voucher for an advanced class at the Boston Center for Adult Education. Maria is from Brazil and has been working diligently to learn English since she arrived in the US many years ago. She is very motivated, but is homeless and has no income which makes accessing classes very difficult. She has taken all of the lower-level classes available through various shelters and was having trouble finding a class that she could afford to take that would be at a more advanced level.
She approached a WLP about this, and the advocate was able to provide her with a voucher for an advanced class at the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE). The BCAE generously provides several vouchers for WLP guests to be able to take classes each quarter. The class that Maria took would normally have cost over $300, and she was thrilled to be able to take the class at no cost.However when she got there she found out that the book and the accompanying CDs were nearly an additional $100, which was not covered by the voucher, and which Maria could not begin to afford. The advocate was able to find the textbook online used for $1, and had it shipped to Maria at WLP. She facilitated borrowing copies of the audio CDs, and was able to provide Maria with a donated Discman in order to allow her to listen to the CDs, which were part of the assigned homework.
Maria recently completed the class and proudly brought her certificate to the shelter to show her advocate. She is so proud of her improved English skills, and so happy to have been able to take and complete such an advanced class.