Attleboro Community College Receives Grant to Educate Targeted Job Seekers

Attleboro residents can now take advantage ofs adult learners program, which offers low-income residents the opportunity to improve their math and reading skills.

The Adult Education program was able to secure a federal grant to help adult learners get ready for the workforce by helping them to develop the necessary credentials and skills. 

The program, Targeted Skill Building for Workforce Solutions, is aimed at adults in the community who do not have a high school diploma or GED and do not have the efficient reading skills to secure a job. 

Now, however, they have a chance thanks to a $8,975 Community Development Block Grant, a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.

One portion of the grant will be used for a math readiness class that will coincide with GED studies. The focus of the class is to help students pass the math portion of the test. Sixty percent of students who do not pass the test the first time fail the math portion of the exam, according to the American Council of Education, the agency that oversees the GED test.

Another portion of the grant will be used to purchase Reading Horizon software to help English as a Second Language (ESL) students and non-readers improve their reading skills to the eighth-grade level.

“It’s a very targeted approach," according to Kristen McKenna, Adult Education Program director at BCC. "Students take a complete diagnostic test that shows them where they’re weak and they can use the software to develop those specific areas."