Skills and Opportunity for the New American Workforce, a contextualized English language training for the retail sector, completed its first course last month, in Miami. Publix Super Markets hosted the 3-month long pilot course offered to their employees, with instruction from Miami Dade College. Since entering this partnership, Publix has been very proactive in supporting increased access to career pathways for its immigrant workforce. Encouraged by the tremendous success of the pilot course, Skills and Opportunity for the New American Workforce has recently launched contextualized English language training with three major retailers in the Miami, Houston and New York City areas.
Yenisei Rodriguez, a grocery clerk at Publix Sabor in Hialeah, Florida, was part of the pilot class offered at her work site. Yenisei, who has worked for Publix for over three years, is originally from Cuba and English is her second language. Since she joined the program, she has taken full advantage of this terrific opportunity to support her personal and career growth through acquisition of work-related English language skills. She was strongly motivated by the investment that her employer is making in boosting her English skills and honored to know that they believe in her potential. At the end of the program, she proudly reported that she was promoted due to her improved English ability.