BSP in the Press
Radio Bilingue Highlights BSP’s Computer Classes for Silicon Valley Janitors
Air Date: Friday, December 9, 2011
Program: Noticiero Latino
Audible Radio Bilingue Interview (Spanish)
Transcribed Interview (Spanish)
Online Radio Bilingue Transcript (Online)
Job Skills Provider wins Two Microsoft Grants
Published Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010
Section: Around the Valley
Community colleges to get funds for retraining
Published Date: Sunday, May 30, 2010
Writer: Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Link to full article
Excerpt from Article: “Retraining often requires expensive equipment, constant revamping of curriculum, and coordination with employers and other services,” said Alison Ascher-Webber with the Building Skills Partnership, a labor-management group in Oakland. “There’s no incentive in the funding system to maintain them [retraining], especially when budgets are tight.”
The results speak for themselves. [BSP] has a 95% graduation rate compared with just 65% of other ESL programs. One of the most important aspects of the program is that [janitors] get to learn English at their regular place of employment during work hours. That means they not only get paid to learn English, but there is no extra time to travel to another location. [And] by hosting the English courses, companies get better customer service from their janitors.
– CBS News
Learning the Language: Student Tutors and Campus Janitors Share Conversation, Pizza in Late-Night Sessions
Published Date: May/June 2004
Excerpt from Article: Habla La Noche—The Night Speaks—was launched two years ago by students from the Stanford Labor Action Coalition. Two evenings a week, it draws 20 workers to El Centro Chicano for English tutoring during their 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. “lunch break.” Another dozen janitors, mostly women, show up at noon twice a week for a day-shift program run by junior Laura Avina. The ABM Janitorial Services workers use the sessions to practice their conversational skills, unpack English idioms and learn how to write notes to their children’s teachers.
1200 Foundation
Newsletter 2007
PDF Version of Full Length Newsletter
Excerpt from Article: As one graduate [janitor] said, “I want to learn English. I made a promise to my children. I want to be a model for their education.”
BOMA Tower Holds Second Building Skills Partnership Graduation
Published Date: October 12, 2007
Excerpt from Article: [Janitors] work hard to complete their cleaning duties so they may attend class…new English skills can help [them] manage a difficult situation at their property.
At Stanford, Tutoring Helps Make a Janitor Less Invisible
Published Date: January 26, 2005
Writer: Samuel G. Freeman, The New York Times
Link to full article online version
New York Times Article PDF version
Excerpt from Article: Learning even the rudiments of English can save a janitor from being fired for not responding to a request he does not understand. With some fluency, a janitor can get off the night shift and onto days…An immigrant can try to pass the citizenship test…Meanwhile, the tutoring provides a sense of purpose and human connection that cannot be taught.
Stanford Students Tutor Service Workers on Campus
Air Date: April 14, 2005
Audible Version of Program
Link to NPR Online Program
Excerpt from Article: Two worlds have come together in a rare teaching program. Students at Stanford University are reaching across a cultural divide to help tutor the Mexican immigrants who clean their classrooms and dorms.
Index of Silicon Valley – 2008
Link to Online Full Length Report
Excerpt from Article: To bridge to a mid-wage job, critical skills such as basic English are in high demand among lower wage workers in the region. In addition to the costs of ESL courses, the nature of low-wage work is that people typically have more than one job. This severely limits their ability to take part in formal classes…To help mitigate mismatches of supply and need, the local nonprofit BSP works with employers and unions to provide janitors in the region with ESL and basic computer literacy training at the worksite and during working hours in order to reach out to the most workers with the greatest needs.
HP is Inaugural Partner in English Training for Contractors
Published Date: January 13, 2005
Excerpt from Article: The training reaps many benefits, including concrete skill development, “goodwill” with the custodial contractor and union, and an expected reduction in turnover.
Unions Target Emerging Tech
Published Date: Sunday, October 28, 2007
Link to Full Online Article
PDF Version of Article
Excerpt from Article: The Service Employees International Union and building contractors are working together to improve the education of low wage workers.