[Caption: Local and regional representatives from Walmart presented a check for $22,000 to the Dover Adult Learning Center. (Photo by Tereza Leite, DALC student)]

The three greatest barriers to participation in adult education are lack of safe reliable childcare, housing insecurity and transportation challenges. Adult learners can end up in a cycle of struggle when they can’t get to school to study for their high school equivalency test, or to gain the level of English language proficiency they need to be successful in their education, career or community.

A $22,000 grant from the Walmart Strategic Initiatives fund will go a long way to help remove those barriers and help students be successful in their pursuit of basic education and career opportunities, interrupting a spiral of obstructions.

Walmart employees, including Chad Gray, market manager; Melissa Herold, market coordinator; Angela Yankauskas, market asset protection manager; Cory Huston, market digital operations manager; Karen Kelsey, optician; and Monica McGovern, executive assistant enjoyed a tour, met some of the students, and posed for a photo. 

The Walmart Strategic Initiatives grant funds will be used to support services like childcare and transportation for adult learners for the next 18 months.

As our counselors assist students in finding resources to mitigate the big three barriers and make it possible for them to get to school consistently, be focused and relaxed when they are at school, these funds will give them additional resources to meet these needs.

The Dover Adult Learning Center of Strafford County, at the McConnel Center in Dover and the James W. Foley Memorial Community Center in Rochester, offers the following programs: English Language Learning; College, Training & Workforce Prep; Academics and HS Completion; Integrated Education and Training; Computer Training; and Tutoring.