Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and Voxy announce the Alain Jean Claude Nahimana Scholarship for Learning English

Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and Voxy announce the

Alain Jean Claude Nahimana Scholarship for Learning English

Portland, Maine – October 1, 2020:  Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) and Voxy have partnered to offer a scholarship that honors the life and legacy of Alain Jean Claude Nahimana, the Co-Founder of the IWC and Executive Director from 2017 to 2020. Alain often said, “by working together, we can make great things happen.” In offering this scholarship, the IWC and Voxy will work together to strengthen the immigrant community through vocational and academic language acquisition.

The scholarship will enable an initial cohort of 50 learners to access Voxy’s language learning platform, beginning in October 2020.  For six months, learners will enjoy unlimited access to Voxy’s General English courses and Career Pathway content, which serves as a hybrid English language acquisition and workforce development model.

“Refugees and immigrants face a range of systemic barriers to success in school and at work, but language is by far the biggest impediment,” said Katharine Nielson, Chief Education Officer at Voxy. “This scholarship is representative of Alain’s dedication to equal access to opportunity, and will improve the lives of many Maine residents for years to come.”

Voxy’s content library includes 25,000+ individual lessons and 40+ career pathway courses in addition to General English for all proficiency levels. The Voxy platform adapts to their proficiency and will measure English language gains over the course of the program via the Voxy Proficiency Assessment (VPA).

Participants must be registered students of the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and have demonstrated an interest in improving their English as a way to achieve economic stability or career advancement.  At the end of the six-month period, Voxy will facilitate a mock job interview and communication skills webinar training to help ensure workforce readiness for all program participants.

Basic requirements to apply include:

• Be a high-need immigrant, asylee, or refugee

• Basic computer literacy skills

• GED or higher education

• Interest and goals related to higher education, business opportunities, or career advancement

• Be able to dedicate 3-4 hours per week on the Voxy platform

• Live in the state of Maine

Interested applicants including businesses and organizations may apply here: https://fs4.formsite.com/Qrbgzp/vzp19ucq5x/index.html. 

Download the scholarship flyer here.