Affordable training for all

Although Boston bears a reputation for top-notch universities, rising educational costs bar many Bostonians from reaching the professional-level jobs they desire. While Massachusetts' unemployment rate is lower than the national average, for many, "the need to get into jobs that pay living wages" is still great, says Clare Shepherd, director of ABCD LearningWorks, a non-profit Boston career development center for low-income workers.

A program under Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., ABCD LearningWorks provides job-skill enhancement, English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses, GED courses, literacy programs and other career-related training.

"Our largest program teaches people to be daycare workers," Shepherd says. "We have placed students with over 100 different daycare programs in Boston."

According to Shuya Ohno, communications director with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, programs like LearningWorks have "become critically important for the future workforce and the economy" in Massachusetts.

"A lot of working-age people have been leaving the state over the last two decades," Ohno says. "The only group that's been increasing the workforce population has been the immigrant population."

While many ESOL programs exist throughout Boston, ABCD LearningWorks remains integral to the development of career-minded Boston residents.

"It seems that language skills are really important in the economy today and increasingly as a trend," Ohno says. "English skills and workforce skills are investments in this region."