Notre Dame Education Center, S. Boston

CONTACT:

200 Old Colony Avenue
Boston, MA 02127-2413
617-268-1912 x249
www.ndecboston.org

Joyce Khoury, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Notre Dame Education Center offers tuition-free literacy classes to low income, mostly minority, adults throughout Boston, so that they can gain jobs, become contributing members of their communities, and generally improve their lives. Evening classes are offered at nominal fees for students with jobs.

The Center was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame, an Order which has ministered "to the poor in the most abandoned places" in Boston since 1849. The Center currently teaches more than 500 adults annually in two main programs: Adult Literacy, and English for Speakers of Other Languages.

NDEC sees illiteracy as a cause, not just a symptom, of poverty. Its 16 teachers work to eliminate the shame of illiteracy and inadequate education with compassion and understanding. They also conduct classes in job-readiness skills, including computer training; a summer school program; individual tutoring; and an after-school program for the children of adult students.

(1997: CULTURE: Education: Formal: Schools)