Education & Skills Training and Development
A Caring Place for Africans and their Families

INTRODUCTION
Education and Skills Training and Development. For a number of African newcomers, there is no capacity to use American English, or knowledge of basic computing and typing in order to satisfactorily meet the demands of some of the requirements for entry or mid-level positions in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Also, there is lack of understanding of how to perform successful job searches, these Africans are limited in their ability to acquire and prosper within

jobs that are similar to their occupations in Africa. As a result, they may struggle to meet financial obligations that provide for the needs of themselves and their families. There is no sufficient educational accreditation system in United States to appropriately grade the educational curricula offered by different higher institutions of learning in Africa. Thus, African newcomers may find themselves settling for occupations for which underutilize their talents and limit their earning potentials.

CHALLENGES
African Center’s Literacy and Language Laboratory, GED instruction, and employment assistance services provide Africans with the basic ingredients to stop the cycle of unemployment or underemployment. Imagine a talented carpenter that had overseen the construction of hundreds houses in his homeland but had to settle working at a discount retailer due to not possessing the equivalency of a GED in his home country. Imagine an accomplished dentist not being able to practice in Indiana due to his lack of knowledge of English and the relative disregard of his academic credentials from a top West African university. Imagine a successful textile trader having difficulty acquiring a retail job due to her lack of basic computer knowledge and typing skills, as well as an unfamiliarity with the job search process in the United States.

LITERACY PROJECTS
The African Center’s solution includes the Language Laboratory and Literacy Project (LLLP). The project is designed to provide new communicative acquisition and learning tools and open up a new world of basic computer and social literacy to the African newcomers in Central Indiana. The key benefit of technology is to allow the learner to have independent control of access to resources and work at a pace set by the learner. The project (LLLP) is geared toward self-help and civic participation, inspiring self-determination, self-expression and linking computer literacy, social norms and understanding, technical assistance, qualified translation services and resources to African newcomers and refugees.

The benefit of the project is centered in the American language acquisition and learning opportunities it would continue to provide, specifically to assist African newcomers and refugees in developing facilitative and communicative skills necessary to interact, understand and cope with their needs and that of their families in relation to their adopted environment consisting of governmental, educational, and social service system and the prevalent attitudes, opinions, and misconception that go along with it. In addition, the project will continue to create opportunities for men and women, children and youth, regardless of age, ethnicity, educational background, or economic status, to assume more functional and psychological significance in their communities.

Specifically, the project offers the following:

…service to African Professionals

On professional level, the African Center will continue to organize the Summit of African Professionals as it did few years ago, when it brought together African professionals together for exchange and exposition. Read more Professional Development Page.

In addition, the African Center is offering Ki-Swahili training for public benefits. If you are interested in taking Ki-Swahili language classes, please contact the African Center.