Stories in the Making...
At this time of year, it’s good to look back and think about what brings us hope and joy. For myself, I will say that working at LCMC alongside our incredible staff and volunteer educators, knowing we have the support of folks like you, all for the cause of helping our students grow and flourish gives me a real sense of purpose and hope.
Most educators would agree that each person is a story unto him/herself. And if we are doing our jobs correctly, then we are helping our students tell the next chapters of their stories. Lucy and Lilit, who you will read about in the attached one-pager, make a strong case for why agencies like LCMC have to help under-served adults get the training they need to be able to provide for their families. They are eager to create new chapters for themselves and for their families as entrepreneurs-in-the making, as Stories-in-the Making.
As you probably know by now, LCMC was awarded funding from the county to start an entrepreneur training program for ESL and GED students. Lucy and Lilit will be part of that first cohort to start in the spring, and we want to invite you all to be part of their journey, and part of the journey of the other 50 students we will serve in the first half of 2022 through this program. Over the next few weeks and months, we will be sharing short videos about these students, so you can hear for yourselves, who they are and what is driving them. You will be able to see how they grow as students and as entrepreneurs.
As of the writing of this letter, with your help, we have raised over $77,000 to support this program, but we need just a little more assistance to reach our goal of $100K by the end of the calendar year.
Every $100, trains one more Mentor from the business world, so that he/she can help one of our students make a dream become reality
Every $250 buys the curriculum we will use for one more Entrepreneur-in-the-making
Every $500 you give allows us to put a tablet in that students’ hands because so many of our learners do not have a device that they will need to be successful in our program and beyond
Every $1,000 you give pays for us to help one more student-entrepreneur learn academics and vocational skills in a holistic way that serves them and their needs
We know a few of you have asked why LCMC has taken on this goal. You have asked if this takes us off of our mission to provide academic training to our students, but as Lucy and Lilit’s stories will remind you, this is not an either/or proposition. Both Lucy and Lilit (and the other students we will serve) will continue to study and improve their language and numeracy skills as they also learn how to run businesses of their own.
Our learners are adults, and they cannot wait til they have mastered their academics to get to the vocational training they need in order to support their families. At LCMC, we can teach both at the same time because we have the staff, the volunteer educators, and supporters like you who know that economic equity starts with equal opportunity to high-quality education and work training--the kind of training that Lucy and Lilit will receive with your help.
As you look back at 2021, and as you look to 2022, I hope you and your family have a joyful holiday. I also hope that you feel some of the same pride and purpose that I do knowing that your support of LCMC will help individuals like Lucy and Lilit tell the next exciting chapters of their stories.
Let’s do this. Let’s do this together in 2022!
Yours,
Gabriel
