LOWELL, MASS -- Local leaders from business, labor and community organizations joined at Middlesex Community College on Friday, November 13, 2009, in Lowell, to promote the state's new "Learn at Work" fund.

Initially budgeted at $1.4 million, this dedicated fund offers grants to businesses and educational providers that together offer workplace classes in ABE (Adult Basic Education) and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).

Organized by Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, The "Learn at Work" fund is one of the major policy goals for the English Works Campaign, a coalition of immigrant, business, labor, community and civic leaders and organizations working to increase opportunities for English learning .

The Campaign came to the Merrimack valley to encourage area businesses and community organizations to use the fund, which will not only ease English-class waiting lists -- lists that today include roughly 17,0000 names across the state-- but will also strengthen the region's workforce.

Fred Carberry, Executive Director of the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, commented on the lack of English classes in the Commonwealth. "Nearly one third of the state's workforce lacks adequate literacy skills to perform their jobs effectively and to provide an opportunity for career advancement," he said. "In today's economy, innovative steps must be taken to correct this situation."

Carberry highlighted the fund's benefits, saying that it "provides employers with the opportunity to collaborate with adult literacy training providers in bringing these much needed skills to their workers. This is a win-win for the workers and employers of the Commonwealth."

Joseph Bevilacqua, President of the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce echoed Carberry's remarks: "As President of the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce, I strongly urge business leaders to take advantage of this program to assist their employees in learning English and benefit the communities of the Merrimack Valley as well."

The new fund combines $1 million from Massachusetts' Executive Office of Workforce and Labor Development (EWOLD) and an additional $400,000 from the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to offer a five- percent increase in current levels of ABE/ ESOL funding.

The money will be awarded in grants of up to $225,000 over three years, as administered by the Commonwealth Corporation (the application is available through the Corporation website, http:// www.commcorp.org).

Claudia Green, Director of Workforce Development and English for New Bostonians at the MIRA Coalition, the organization leading the English Works Campaign, said: "We are pleased that the state is making it easier for businesses to come to the table to address their own needs and the huge need for English language classes in Massachusetts. And most of all, we are pleased the state is making it easier for immigrant workers to take an English class at work. This is a shared investment, and a mutual opportunity."

The English Works Campaign is a unique coalition of community, labor, business, and civic leaders, working together to provide all residents in Mass. with a pathway to self-sufficiency, ensure a stable, skilled workforce, and integrate immigrants into the fabric of our economy, community, and civic life.

The English Works Campaign is led statewide by the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition and locally by the English for New Bostonians Initiative.