BSP In the Press

At Stanford, Tutoring Helps Make a Janitor Less Invisible
by Samuel Freedman, New York Times (January 26, 2005)

“Learning even the rudiments of English can save a janitor from being fired for not responding to a request he does not understand… For the Stanford students, meanwhile, the tutoring provides a sense of purpose and human connection that cannot be taught.”
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SJ Janitors Graduate From On Job English Course
by Len Ramirez, CBS 5 (October 15, 2007)

"On Monday, more than a dozen Adobe employees graduated from a unique 5-month education program. The Building Skills Partnership is a program uniting the janitors, their union and the building owners."
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Stanford Students Tutor Service Workers on Campus
by Elaine Korry, National Public Radio Morning Edition (April 14, 2005)

"Two worlds have come together in a rare teaching program at one of the nation's top universities. Students at Stanford University are reaching across a cultural divide to help tutor the Mexican immigrants who clean their classrooms and dorms."
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BSP featured in Stanford's Haas Center newsletter

Building Skills (affiliated with SEIU Local 1877: Justice for Janitors),
which supports student groups Habla La Noche and Habla El Dia to provide English tutoring for members of the janitorial and dining room staff, started a reciprocal Spanish class for Stanford students. Doroteo Garcia (center), one of the English learners, tutors Stanford students in
Spanish.
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BSP featured in Joint Venture's Index of Silicon Valley 2008 Report

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 lowwage 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.
See full report (p.56)>>

 

Learning the Language
Student tutors and campus janitors share conversation, pizza in late-night sessions.

Stanford Magazine (May/June 2004)

"At 10 p.m. on a recent Tuesday night, the lounge at El Centro Chicano, the Chicano/Latino community center in Old Union, was understandably empty. But three minutes later, students and night-shift janitors were streaming through the front door and plopping down on the mismatched couches."
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