Look How Far We've Come, Together!

Hi all!

I am the HR Liaison with  of the City of Alexandria Department of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities (RPCA). We operate facilities and parks across the City of Alexandria to enrich our community, create meaningful experiences, and improve the well-being of the city. We do this with a team essential workers who maintain, clean, and improve our spaces every day. 25 are English language learners. After months of researching to find an organization who would be willing to meet our unique needs, bring the course onsite and have the flexibility to work within our various schedules, I was thrilled when I found the only organization that could meet our needs: LCNV and its Destination Workforce® program! LCNV has been a great partner and I am proud to say that RPCA is the first department in the City of Alexandria to take on this initiative to upskill our English learner workforce. I am sure we won’t be the last.

After some initial conversations, LCNV met with us and surveyed our managers to explore specific pain points where English could make a difference – from communicating with supervisors to describe work accomplished, safety, personal and professional relationships, and or issues that require to further address, to engaging and supporting customers. When it became clear that our staff were starting from different learning levels, LCNV created two classes, so that our 16 participating team members could each receive the education that will best take them to the next level. And the best part? They came to us. They know our team members work long hours and have families to get home to at the end of the day. We needed a program that would meet during their shifts and on-site. LCNV delivers just that.

When the pandemic and social distancing measures hit, everything came to a halt. But our staff didn’t stop talking about this opportunity and when we were ready to start up again, LCNV was right there with us. They helped us to navigate the logistics of hybrid classrooms to allow us to continue complying with distancing, without lowering the bar on the quality of the curriculum and instruction.

Managers continue to be impressed with the conversations they are having with staff, who are more confident and engaging! Destination Workforce® is making an impact directly and indirectly in their professional and personal lives. LCNV has exceeded our expectations so much that we plan to continue to provide this program as part of our ongoing professional development offerings – throughout the pandemic and beyond.

I am so grateful to the LCNV team for providing the program I have been looking for to help our staff grow.  LCNV’s work is so needed – especially at times like these, when so many hard-working English learning workers are eager to contribute to our communities and advance their potential. I hope you’ll support LCNV to keep up its incredible work!

Warmest regards,

LaWan Croswell