CENTER A BEACON OF HOPE : PUENTE CLASSES CHANGING LIVES.Byline: Jeff Meyer Jeffrey A. Meyer is an Associate Professor of Law at Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, CT. Jeffrey Meyer began teaching at Quinnipiac Law School as an Associate Professor of Law in January 2006, following many years of legal practice experience. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Josefina Grijalva thought the ad in a Spanish-language magazine was too good to be true: A learning center just blocks from her working-class neighborhood was offering computer education - for free. ``I called right away,'' said Grijalva, a 31-year-old unemployed mother of two young boys. ``I want to learn all about computers. My husband works, but we need me to get a good job.'' Grijalva's desire for a better life led her to the Puente Learning Center, a state-of-the-art educational facility built on a hill overlooking the gleaming high-rises of downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . Hundreds of others in the largely Latino communities of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. have also discovered Puente - Spanish for bridge and an acronym for People United to Enrich the Neighborhood Through Education. As many as 1,700 adults and 300 teens and children attend classes each day at the center, an architectural wonder featuring a white cantilevered roof and translucent walls and ceilings that fill classrooms with natural light. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served “FCFS” redirects here. For the figure skating competition, see Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. This article is about a general service policy. For the technical concept, see FIFO. basis and students pay no tuition - funding comes largely from gifts and grants from large corporations, foundations and individuals. The waiting list for its English as a Second Language program alone is 800 and growing. ``We want to offer our community an education,'' says Sister Jennie Lechtenberg, founder and president of the learning center. ``But we also want to use our experience as a resource to affect education and educational programs for other communities like ours.'' Lechtenberg, a member of the order of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, (Soeurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et de Marie)[1] Motto: "Jésus Et Marie Ma Force Et Ma Glorie" is a teaching order founded at Longueuil, Québec, Canada in 1843 by (Eulalie Durocher) Blessed Mother Marie-Rose (1811- , was the driving force behind construction of the $9.5 million learning center, which opened in October 1995. A tireless fund-raiser, Lechtenberg won commitments for large donations from several corporations and individuals, including a $1.1 million gift from Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. . As thanks, the building was named in Riordan's honor. ``She believes so much in what she's doing. That makes her comfortable with people, whether they're powerful or just ordinary folks,'' said Riordan, who amassed a fortune in real estate development before being elected mayor. The center was the culmination of Lechtenberg's 10-year crusade for literacy and educational opportunities for the Latino residents of East Los Angeles. She founded Puente in 1985, teaching youngsters in the auditorium balcony of a former Masonic Temple. Later, Puente moved into trailers on a vacant lot where the learning center was later built. Courses teaching English as a second language are the most popular, but the center also offers Spanish literacy classes and job training, a preschool, after-school enrichment programs and parental skills-building classes. Computers are used to expand upon traditional classroom instruction; the center has more than 250 personal computers, including 100 Pentium-processing units, in six computer laboratories. ``We feel that our residents can't exist in the world without a competency in computers,'' Lechtenberg says. Jesus Torres, a 68-year-old music teacher at Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College, known as LACC, is a public community college in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard. , enrolled in a word processing word processing, use of a computer program or a dedicated hardware and software package to write, edit, format, and print a document. Text is most commonly entered using a keyboard similar to a typewriter's, although handwritten input (see pen-based computer) and class in January to help him learn enough about computers to write a documentary on the history of Mexico Mexico is a country of North America and the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Its history begins with the arrival of the first substantiated indigenous inhabitants 12,500 years ago (with potential settlement as early as 20,000 years ago), to the consolidation of a modern and . ``This (center) is heaven-sent,'' Torres told a visitor recently during a break from his studies. ``This is helping us realize our dreams. I'm so glad this is available to us.'' The job training program focuses on office careers. Students are taught to use computer applications such as WordPerfect, Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. and Lotus. Last year, Puente placed 117 students in jobs in law firms, insurance companies and city agencies, each earning about $22,000 annually. Jorge Rodriguez, 31, is one of many success stories. A few years ago Rodriguez was loading and unloading freight at a warehouse and driving a truck when he decided to make a change in his life. ``I decided I wasn't getting any younger and I'd better find something that would pay me better,'' he says. Today he has a clerical position in a downtown office building and plans to continue his education. Puente also has opened a satellite center in South Central Los Angeles that can accommodate 300 students. England's Prince Charles visited in November 1994 while the center was under construction. He left so impressed that he invited Lechtenberg to participate in his international Business Leaders Forum The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) is an organisation which promotes responsible business, particularly in emerging economies. It is backed by over 100 multinational companies, including BP, Volkswagen, The Coca-Cola Company and Vodafone. . CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1) Computer instructor Chris Connick works with M arta Pena, left, and Josefina Grijalva at the Puente Learning Center. (2) Sister Jennie Lechtenberg, founder of the learning center, talks with students. Associated Press |
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