GREEN BAY – Halfway through her English language class on an early September morning, teacher Sierra Susa asked each of her adult students to write down a positive affirmation on a sticky note.

One by one, the students, hailing from roughly 10 countries, stuck the light green papers to a hallway wall:

“I help and encourage others.”

“I like learning new things and my family is my whole world.”

“A veces pensar mucho no es buena idea (Sometimes thinking too much is not a good idea).”

“I am studying hard! I will be a nursing assistant!”

“English is really difficult… When you are having a bad day, you can walk by and say, ‘OK. I’ve got motivation.

I feel better,’” Susa said.

That day, roughly two dozen students gathered in a basement classroom at Literacy Green Bay, the city’s largest resource for helping immigrants, refugees and other adults learn English as a second language.
Demand is only growing for the organization’s services, which help residents learn to use a computer, study for a citizenship test or speak English well enough to attend school or find work.

But the nonprofit took a major blow recently, when the Trump administration slashed billions in federal funding and gutted refugee resettlement programs. That’s trickled down to funding losses for Literacy Green Bay, leading it to cut its services nearly in half: It has reduced from 15 ESL classes to eight, stopped offering child care and has a 300-person waitlist.

In the aftermath, the staff has turned to the surrounding community for help — with funding and with helping students sharpen their skills. As immigration enforcement and anti-immigrant rhetoric draw more attention nationwide, they’re making an even stronger effort to be visible in the community and squash the stigma around being an adult English learner.

“It’s very hard for most of our students to break out of their bubble. A lot of them will just work and go home...Some of them don’t have anybody else,” Development and Communications Coordinator Grace Hageman said. “And so this is where they come to get community, this is where they make friends and this is people coming from all across the world that get to hang out together.”

Hub for immigrants, refugees

In 1981, Literacy Green Bay launched as an initiative of volunteers helping integrate Hmong refugees who recently settled in the area by providing English language education.

Four decades and thousands of students from nearly 100 countries later, Hageman said Literacy Green Bay is well-known among local immigrant and refugee communities.

“We can be one of the first stops for people as they’re getting settled and they’re looking for opportunities to grow, but that’s definitely not all of our students,” she said. “For some, it could be years of living in Green Bay speaking limited to no English until they sign up for classes.”

The largest share of students at the school are Hispanic, followed by Somali, Afghan, Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. All are adults.

All of Literacy Green Bay’s services are low-cost to students — they pay a $65 fee to begin and are also asked to purchase books for $35. But if a student can’t afford that, the school will find a way to cover the cost.

The school’s classes begin at a level considered “pre-literate,” for people who don’t know how to read, write or use a computer in their native language — often women from Pakistan and Somalia who never went to school.

“We start at that level of people just learning how to hold a pencil,” Hageman said.

From there, Literacy Green Bay’s classes span through level 3. To a native English speaker, this skill level looks like someone who can generally be able to participate in a basic conversation, while still being apparent that they are learning English. ESL programs at local technical colleges generally begin where Literacy Green Bay leaves off, meaning students must enroll to continue learning English.

Literacy Green Bay also offers a volunteer-based, one-on-one adult tutoring service, which about 100 people utilize. These sessions are tailored to each person’s goals and might include preparing for a citizenship test, learning computer skills, studying for a driver’s license, doing homework or conducting a job search.

Across the board, the school focuses on helping students navigate a community that isn’t designed for non-English speakers.

“That’s a big misconception of what happens in the classrooms here. It’s not like we’re just having them read and write,” Hageman said. “They’re learning how to go to the bank. They’re learning how to talk to a doctor.”

The classes also provide social connection for students, who spend two days a week together and often forge friendships.

Potlucks are common and a favorite way for students to connect and share their cultures with one another. On that Wednesday morning in September, student Ikuko Mader brought a meal of taco rice to share with everyone. Originally from Okinawa, Japan, Mader moved to Green Bay for love: Her husband is a former Marine from Wisconsin. She said the food is what she misses most about her home country — not just Japanese food, but the amount of choice she had in restaurants.

Today, Mader takes classes at Literacy Green Bay to better communicate with her family, who speaks English.

“I married and have kids that use English, but my English is basic level. … Talking in detail about stuff (is hard),” Mader said. “Of course, in Japanese, I can, but when it’s English, it’s hard.”

Continued next week