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English In Action (EIA) has built stronger community and intercultural relationships for three decades through language development, personal empowerment, and community engagement. Demand for their services has outpaced capacity for some time, but they have launched a capital campaign to address this issue.
Their Welcome Home Campaign seeks to raise $5 million to construct the 6,000-square-foot English In Action Center for Communication in El Jebel, allowing them to move out of their 1,800-square-foot, 37-year-old modular unit office. EIA has raised $4,431,886 of its $5 million cash goal to date; Crawford Properties also donated a 50-year land lease to secure its future.
Belonging is at the heart of EIA’s work. The organization’s primary service matches adults who want to learn English with volunteer tutors. This model provides a culture exchange allowing students and tutors to learn from each other.
“As our adult learners gain confidence and English proficiency, they feel a greater sense of belonging in our community and are more able to leverage their talents in their personal and professional lives and achieve their goals. The English In Action Center for Communication will be a visible and vibrant mid-valley hub where members of the non-immigrant and immigrant communities feel welcome and that they belong,” shared Lara Beaulieu, executive director of EIA.
She continued, “Marginalized communities thrive when they have a space they can call their own and where they feel safe. In focus groups, EIA’s adult students already describe our new building as their ‘home.’”
The number of adult immigrants they serve has increased steadily year after year. Group offerings and other creative solutions have been employed to help meet demand, but space has continued to be a limiting factor.
“With a waiting list of more than 100 people for an individual tutor, we offer participants group tutoring options right away — but those programs are limited by available space. Our Small Group Tutoring program is key to future programmatic growth as it allows us to maximize the talents of a single tutor who simultaneously facilitates learning for six to eight students. New classrooms will easily allow for the expansion of this program. In 2021, we launched a Digital Equity and Literacy program since many immigrants were substantially hindered during the pandemic by limited knowledge of and technological access. Three times as many learners will be able to participate in this popular program in our new building’s larger multi-use community room” said Beaulieu.
EIA’s new building will substantially expand both individual and group tutoring opportunities, digital literacy instruction, and volunteer training, among other things. The building includes four dedicated tutor spaces, six classrooms, a large multi-use room, a group kitchen, and indoor and outdoor gathering spaces.
Students and tutors are passionate about and deeply committed to the new center and central to its creation. More than 150 adult learners and volunteer tutors have contributed to this project, showing deep commitment to the effort. Over 75 of these contributors are adult learners.
Beaulieu shared, “One of our very first donors to the project was a student named Maria Zelaya, who works for the company that donates cleaning services to English In Action. In early spring 2022, Maria asked our staff if she could pray in the old building during off hours. Our staff were happy to offer her the space and were moved when they learned that Maria’s intention was to pray for a new building for the organization. Before English In Action publicly announced our Welcome Home capital campaign, Maria donated a crisp $100 bill. She has now made eight $100 donations to the project.”
The immigrant community plays a critical role in our valley’s workforce and ecosystem; the new Center for Communication will provide a home for learning and cultural exchange that will inevitably improve the region.
“As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, the greatest gift is watching our new home being built. We can already envision the positive community impacts it will make by empowering more individuals to communicate effectively, participate fully, and flourish at home and work,” said Beaulieu.
Support for the Welcome Home campaign invests in our community’s interconnected thriving. For more information about the campaign or to schedule a site visit, please contact Heather@englishinaction.org. Now through July 1, they also have a $50,000 matching grant opportunity through the Friends of English In Action at Talis Park.
Allison Alexander is the director strategic partnerships and communication at Aspen Community Foundation. ACF, with the support of its donors, works with a number of non-profits in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys. Throughout the year, we will work to highlight non-profits in the region.
