Lina* immigrated from the Dominican Republic to the United States in 2019. But without speaking or understanding English, her experience was limited.
“I felt nervous when I received any medical or school letter,” she says, looking back. “I was not able to understand what the letter means.”
Although she attended events at Hannah Penn K-8, where her two children went to school, she felt isolated and disconnected from her community.
In 2021, Lina paid a visit to Community Progress Council’s Community of Hope, a school-based resource center within Hannah Penn. Community of Hope provides support for immediate needs and connects families in the Hannah Penn neighborhood to coaching, where they can work together on short-term and long-term goals.
Best of all, the Resource Navigator who welcomed her spoke Spanish.
“I was so happy to be assisted in the same language,” Lina says. “It felt like all the doors were open.”
Community of Hope was able to support Lina and her children with clothing, connected her to a workshop to build basic computer skills, and provided a warm hand-off to Family First Health for primary care and dental health.
Community Progress Council also connected her to a Coach, who helped her to apply for the HealthyCare Card (HCC). A program of Healthy Community Network, the HealthyCare Card provides discounts to care for those who require financial assistance with their medical care. At the time, Lina had no other health insurance.
As Lina strengthened her computer skills, her Coach also helped her to complete a job application for employment.
Lina’s two children — now 6 and 11 — became U.S. citizens through their father, which motivated Lina to work toward her own citizenship. The barrier again was language: The citizenship test could only be completed in English.
Lina had tried ESL classes before, but she struggled to learn at the classes’ pace. Instead, she relied on YouTube channels and apps on her phone to practice. When she shared her goal for citizenship with her Coach, Keyshla — who is also bilingual — they agreed to practice her English-language skills together.
“I told Keyshla, when she started to help me with citizenship, that she could give ESL classes,” Lina says. “I learned more with [her] than with any other course.”
At her job, where she works on a manufacturing assembly line, she began to pick up on more English sentences and instructions being given.
This summer, Lina passed her test and became an official United States of American citizen.
“I have a lot of feelings,” she shares. “I feel safer, I have more rights, I can vote. Now I feel like I am a part of the United States. It was emotional.”
Her newfound confidence is apparent. “I feel more independent, with everything that I have learned,” Lina says. “And also less shy. And everything has been because I came here to Community of Hope.”
Her next goal is to continue to improve her English skills, and consider her educational goals, to see if she can validate her accountant credential from the Dominican Republic.
Community of Hope Program Manager Maria Jacome smiles when she considers how Lina has grown and changed over four years. Lina now recommends other people, friends and families, to Community Progress Council, and oftentimes brings a friend to Community of Hope events.
“I love hearing her say how much more connected she is, and see her creating and building her social network,” Maria says.
It’s what Coaching is all about. And it’s what Community of Hope is built to do.
“Community of Hope is connected with the community and the school,” Maria says. “[The families] see us, we’re present. It’s almost like being a home for them, a welcoming space.”
“And once they’re here, we’re sharing about all the other things we’re able to offer to support them ongoing, more than that immediate need.”
For Lina, it’s opened up a new world, and she’s eager to keep growing.
“CPC has the knowledge and all the support that you need,” she says. “I don’t want to be disconnected from coaching.”
* Name has been changed.