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Grace Freeze, Director of Ursuline Sisters Scholars and Immigrant Outreach, joined us as we continue Foundation Month. Beatitude House, sponsored by the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown, is committed to all disadvantaged women and children. By creating homes, providing educational opportunities and fostering healthy families, they provide them with the opportunity to transform their lives. The core values of Beatitude House are education, compassion, integrity, and hospitality. Through these values, they have a range of programs including English Language Learning, an immigrant outreach program that provides one-on-one tutoring to women in the area, and the Ursuline Sisters Scholars, a program that works to help students break the cycle of generational poverty through post-secondary education. Immigrant Outreach ProgramClasses are offered several days per week for adult learners in the areas of reading, writing, conversation and life skills. The program also has an opportunity for children who come from immigrant families, where they're able to attend art classes, music lessons, summer camps and sports teams. In total, 32 women have participated, 22 have attended english classes, 11 families utilized extended family services, all with a 90% improvement in basic english test scores. Ursuline Sisters ScholarsUrsuline Sisters Scholars provide students with several options to pursue educational goals dependent on their interests and needs. Financial assistance is available to address a college student’s basic needs for food, clothing and transportation. This helps alleviate expenses and empower low-income individuals to overcome obstacles in their lives. Scholarship and grants for academic-related needs are available for students enrolled in the program. Workshops on topics such as financial/credit management, time management, academic/study skills, and stress management are provided. In our area it may be a two year program (EGCC), four year program (YSU), or technical (MCCTC). The scholars program provides support when they may not have someone who understands higher education to help and support them. Single moms, for example, have the lowest rate of success — Beatitude House is working to raise that success level. They are always looking for volunteers and mentors for both programs. To do so, https://www.beatitudehouse.com/volunteer/.
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