Creating Jobs in the Communities We Serve

One thing I’ve always wanted to do through L&LNM is create jobs in the communities we will be serving, if only in a small way. As I’ve taught classes in adult education, I’ve noticed the natural ability many of my students have for teaching and explaining things to their classmates. We will always need good tutors and teachers, and it didn’t take me long to see the potential for hiring some of our students on in that capacity, perhaps as interns, when they complete our program and get their high school diploma.

This can happen in each community we serve, and in some communities, the creation of even three jobs can make a difference, especially if they are rewarding, worthwhile, and look good on a resume.

Here’s a good example of what I want to do – my daughter’s boyfriend, we’ll call him Jesse because that’s his name, passed the GED a couple of years ago. He is 25. He is a crazy hard worker, a college student, and he has been applying for jobs (restaurant, grocery store, etc.) all over the place but is getting nothing.

I’ve been watching him as he takes his math classes, and I’m thinking that he would be good at helping my students in math as I am not really a strong math teacher. The fact that Jesse just got his GED and is in college is a plus. It would mean something to our students to have him as a tutor/teacher.

As soon as I have funds, I plan to hire him. I want him to teach in my program because I know he would be good at it, and I want to help him find work he would enjoy, that he would be paid for. It might only be 6-8 hours/week but I would pay a good hourly wage and even that small amount isn't bad for a college student these days.

L&LNM plans for fall 2015

This fall, we are off to a small, but important, start with a counseling service, A New Awakening, in Rio Rancho, and we will start posting flyers around the town of Bernalillo and at the NM Educational Opportunity Center, a federally funded organization that helps adults in many ways, including providing:

• ·         Grant and scholarship information
• ·         Career advisement
• ·         College information/registration
• ·         High school equivalency (aka GED) information 

The flyers we post will advertise L&LNM services, which basically are tailor made to fit the needs of a community. Each community is different. One thing we ask is that relationships be built in which both partners contribute to the success of the program.

We don’t have facilities in which to offer classes in each community we plan to serve. We don’t need offices but we do need classroom space. We are counting on what we’ve found in the past to have worked – the partner contributes classroom space, and sometimes computers and internet, free of charge. In the future, however, we are hoping to build a tiny house (office/classroom) or two to take to our more remote sites.

If you are in a community that could use a program like L&LNM and you can provide classroom space, email us at liveandlearnnm@gmail.com or contact us on Facebook. Let’s talk! We can even come out and hold a community information session for anyone who might be interested.