IINE’s partnership with Easterseals New Hampshire prepares immigrants and refugees to be residential instructors
Easterseals New Hampshire recently honored IINE-Manchester Education Program Instructor Irina Lopukhina with the 2017 Communication Connection Award. Each year, Easterseals serves 1.4 million children and adults in the United States with disabilities.
Under Irina’s leadership, IINE worked with other providers to create a program that trained immigrants and refugees to be residential instructors at Easterseals. The Communication Connection Award honors someone who makes an exceptional commitment to Easterseals.
In collaboration with staff from the Manchester Economic Development Office and the Diversity Workforce Coalition, Irina trained people for jobs assisting men and women with disabilities in Easterseals residential units. The staff of EasterSeals gave considerable input to the design of the program, which has the potential to be a model for other employers that want to recruit and promote diverse workforces in the Granite state.
“I’m honored to receive this award,” Irina said. “This project is extremely rewarding because I’m able to see first-hand how motivated these students are to succeed and lead sustainable lives.”
The seven-week course ran for two sessions in July 2016 and April 2017, and prepared 25 pre-selected adults for jobs at Easterseals.
The curriculum Irina developed included intensive English language instruction, cultural competency, and an orientation on the specific duties of a residential instructor. Easterseals hired every graduate, providing refugees and immigrants with a good paying job and a career path.
By preparing new Americans for these roles, IINE-Manchester and our partners were able to place multi -cultural and multi -lingual staff at an organization that provides critical services to people in New Hampshire.
