Community Cohesion
Community Foundation for Calderdale are proud advocates of our local area, and we know that Calderdale is made better by it’s vibrant and diverse population, with many different cultures and languages.
As part of our work to make people feel welcomed and to aid their integration, we have awarded a grant to St Augustine’s Centre so it can offer English classes to those whose first language is not English (ESOL). In the past 12 months, this has benefited number of attendees.
We were delighted with the overwhelmingly positive feedback from these classes. 78% of students felt their spoken English had significantly improved, 52% felt more able to write, and 82% reported increased confidence because of attending the classes.
H, a refugee from Sudan, had been unemployed since June 2015. He attended the ESOL class and a Job Search drop-in. As his English improved, he has been able to take more responsibility for his job search. He recently started work as a packer at a local factory.