Foreign-born staff play an irreplaceable role in long-term services and supports for older adults. Coming to a new country, starting a new job, and building a new life can be highly stressful for all foreign-born workers. Their long-term success often depends on their ability to receive significant support in various areas, from accessing housing and transportation to language assistance.

That truth provided the incentive for Springpoint, a New Jersey-based LeadingAge member, to develop initiatives that help non-native-English-language speaking staff overcome communication barriers.

Springpoint’s Stonebridge at Montgomery life plan community (LPC) two years ago implemented an English as a Second Language (ESL) program for a group of eight staff. Since then, the effort has expanded: classes are now underway with eight students at The Atrium at Navesink Harbor; a third program will soon begin at The Oaks at Denville.

Springpoint pursued the ESL program at the urging of residents. “They do love the employees; they’re the people they see every day, more than their family members, and thought this would be a positive thing, both for the employees and the residents,” says Michael Oakes, chief philanthropy officer for the Springpoint Foundation.

First funded at Stonebridge by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has supported other Springpoint programs, including construction of a sensory garden and the adoption of LifeLoop engagement technology for memory care residents, the ESL initiative backing has since expanded to include grants from the Grunin Foundation and TD Charitable Foundation to fund the programs at The Atrium and The Oaks, respectively.

The ESL curriculum and instruction is provided by inlingua, a worldwide language-training company that sends instructors to Springpoint LPCs for in-person teaching, and also provides e-learning options online that students can access to do homework. The company evaluates the language skills of prospective students and can offer beginner, intermediate, or advanced ESL group classes, depending on need. Classes run twice per week for eight to 12 weeks, depending on the level of instruction.

In all, 23 Springpoint staff—speaking Spanish, Haitian, or Creole—have participated in the ESL program.

Oakes says the timing of the classes is important, as is compensating the participants for their time. “Some of our frontline workers, who will be the ones taking advantage of this, are leaving work and going home to family, or they’re going to a second job,” he says. “We can’t just say to them, ‘Come back and take this class,’ so we arranged with inlingua to start [the classes] right as the staff shifts were ending. And we wrote into the grant that we will pay them their hourly wage for the time they’re in class.”

Members of the Stonebridge at Montgomery ESL program have testified to the innovation’s benefits:

• “I enjoyed the classes very much. I learned a lot and have been able to use my English language skills. I am also grateful to my supervisor for allowing me to attend.”
• “I want to thank [Springpoint] for offering these no-cost English classes and helping us to learn a second language … we will always be grateful for the help given to us.”
• “The ESL program has been a great opportunity for the dining team because it allows us to improve our English through vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.  We are able to express ourselves more clearly and with confidence.”

Residents have also noticed the program’s good results. Oakes recounts how one member of the organization’s Life Plan Community Board, a resident who represents Stonebridge at Montgomery, made unsolicited remarks to the board about the significant positive change residents have seen in program participants.

Oakes hopes that grant funding for the program will continue, but if it doesn’t, “we would fund it out of the foundation, because it’s just been so important, and we would look for other [philanthropy] that would help with that.”

Photo: Stonebridge at Montgomery dining staff celebrate their participation in Springpoint’s grant-funded English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Photo courtesy of Springpoint.

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