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Arlington Heights-based women's center for immigrants to expand hours, services
Arlington Heights-based facility helps immigrants

By Kristen Kridel

Tribune reporter

9:37 PM CDT, May 26, 2008
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A $65,000 foundation grant will be used by a northwest suburban high school district to increase services aimed at educating immigrant women and their children.

The Women's Center, run by the community education department of Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, expects to get the funds awarded by the Barbara Bush Foundation this summer, officials said.

"We have enough money that we can actually improve and enhance," said Rhonda Serafin, manager of the school district's adult education and family literacy program.

The center now is open 21/2 hours a day for three days a week. The grant will allow the center to provide services four days a week and offer an additional three-hour workshop devoted to parents reading to their children.

Since its start in 2000, the center has provided services to more than 300 women and their families, offering English language instruction, counseling, parent education, orientation to U.S. culture and early childhood education, according to the center's literature. The center's programs also help people gain job skills and computer literacy.

The center, at 2121 S. Goebbert Rd., Arlington Heights, reaches out to a low-income, "often invisible minority population" living amid affluent suburban communities, according to the center. At least 10 percent of the participants are victims of domestic violence, and some of the women are illiterate in their native languages.

The center helps women become more active in society, gain self-confidence and teach their children the value of education, Serafin said.

"The focus of the Women's and Children's Center is on Latino women, many of whom have children who are here," she said. "They don't know the language. They don't have job skills.

"They're isolated," she said. "They need to learn all their basic skills in order to fit in here."

While parents get instruction, their young children can attend preschool classes, Serafin said. The center usually has about 30 women taking classes at any given time.

The grant will allow the center to keep helping the women already attending sessions and reach out to even more, said Michael Field, director of the community education department of District 214.

"What it's going to mean is the continuation of this very important program," Field said. "This is something that is funded through grants. And it's always a very competitive process. It will mean the continuation for at least another year."

kkridel@tribune.com

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