Adult Education Benefits the Whole Community
By Xavier Botana
At a ceremony in late June, we honored more than 100
Portland Adult Education graduates for receiving their high school diplomas or
passing a high school equivalency test. I told them how proud I was of them for
persevering with their education despite many challenges they faced along the
way.
I also am extremely proud to be a part of a community that
understands the vital role PAE plays in Portland’s continued viability. Over
half of PAE’s budget is from local revenue. I am always eager to remind my
fellow Portlanders that every dollar we invest in adult education is not just a
dollar invested in PAE students. It is a dollar invested in their children, in
their families, and in our community.
PAE has long been an integral part of the Portland community
– it has been providing educational opportunities to Portlanders since 1848. Today,
PAE typically serves approximately 4,000 adults each year, in academic and ELL
classes, as well as enrichment and job skills classes. About 2,000 of those
students – roughly 50 percent – are immigrants.
PAE helps them improve their command of English and learn
new job skills. It also helps them earn their high school diplomas if they need
that credential. Some immigrants have already completed high school and college
in their native countries, but need a high school diploma because they’re
unable to access their educational records due to war or other catastrophic
events.
Many PAE students are foreign-trained professionals, such as
doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, lawyers and CPAs. Maine has a labor
shortage and the skills and experience of these new Mainers are needed to help
address it.
The New Mainers Resource Center (NMRC), a PAE program,
focuses on this professional talent pool. It has programs like the Education
Academy, launched in January, which is helping us to diversify the Portland
Public Schools’ workforce by helping new Mainers trained as teachers to become
licensed educators.
The NMRC also has job classes that focus on preparing
students for the American workplace and that help with resume writing and
interviewing. It helps students who need to have their credentials or transcripts
translated or evaluated. It also recently published six licensing guides to
provide information to help foreign-trained professionals understand the
licensing process so they can resume their professions here in Maine.
Also, within the past two years, PAE and other adult
education centers in our region have formed the Cumberland County Adult
Education and Career Development Hub. The regional approach we are now engaged
in recognizes that tapping into the talent potential of new Mainers is not just
a Portland issue but also one that many communities can benefit from. It
harnesses regional thinking about workforce development and leveraging the
knowledge and skills of new immigrants to ensure we continue to be a thriving
city and region in the 21st century.
PAE Executive Director Anita St. Onge says being part of the
Cumberland County consortium has many benefits. “As a hub,” she said, “we can
refer students to other programs and we can develop programs that complement
one another and develop programs together. We also share ideas and strategies.”
Portland’s immigrants are eager to become contributing
members of their new community. PAE has a long history of helping new Mainers
transition into the mainstream. Its 171-year tradition of building bridges into
the future for Portlanders continues strong today. As we welcome a new wave of
immigrants this summer, PAE will be a proud and proven resource to help them to
integrate into our city, region, state and country.
