Bhola

Common Ground is about training.

Esperance and Aneziya

Job-Training Site Visit to the Doubletree Hotel

Ruth Working Her Mojo

We grow PEOPLE, we grow PRODUCTS, and we grow SERVICES.

Right now we build training curriculums and programs, vegetables and fruit, herbs, pumpkins and cut flowers. Next (possibly this fall / winter 2010) is product creation (making products for local companies). After that (someday)….a cafe.

Alfonz

Curriculum to Enhance the Experiential Language Instruction

Beets - Just Kidding

Mmmm....

Farm Stand is OPEN - Wednesdays and Sundays

We build global communities, one locale at a time. And we have a LOT of fun.

Don’t you want to join us?

Can you imagine trying to learn a new language in your 30’s, 40’s or 50’s – and how well you learn it directly impacting your ability to work and provide for your family? I can’t.

I also can’t imagine being uprooted from my home, unexpectedly, and suffering persecution….living in fear. Most of us truly can’t.

The resiliency of the refugee community is mind boggling – what most of them have experienced would flatten many of us. I’m daily inspired by their strength, courage, and determination to succeed here in their new home.

Thank you, Hotel 43 for your strategic partnership. We couldn’t successfully prepare refugees for the hospitality industry (and many others) without the relationships of our local employer partners. We appreciate you, Hotel 43, and our students appreciate greatly the opportunity to come see and learn on-site. It’s hard to understand workplace expectations and succeed without first hand experience!

YMCA Job-Training Site Visit

It’s hard to imagine what life would be like in another country where the language is new, the culture is entirely different, and where one is expected to land on their feet within just a hand full of months with a livable wage job.

The Common Ground job and language training courses are experiential job training courses with language as the foundation of all learning and instruction.  Our courses are industry-wide, entry level job preparation in a variety of arenas: restaurant and foodservice, hotel, housekeeping and janitorial work, factory and warehouse preparation, childcare, agriculture, and more.  We do job simulations, work on conversation in the workplace, and practice, practice, and practice some more.  The best part of our training weeks are often our trips to employer partners within the community where the “classroom” comes to life as we walk through real scenarios on the job and train within the employment setting.

Understanding the Childcare Work

The YMCA is a tremendous employer partner and a great community resource, and the added benefit of the YMCA is that there are so many different types of jobs to learn about within the one venue.  Thank you Lisa, Kim, Jim Everett and the many others who made the visit a great success.  We appreciate you, and the Common Ground training wouldn’t be the same without the site visits!

Esperanza, Victoria, and Aneziya--Ready for Work!

And much more….we’re getting excited!

This week we are focusing on working in a bakery; specifically a bread bakery.  We talked about the different ingredients involved in bread making and then did a little role-playing.  The trainees practiced bagging bread, selling bread buy bread, and my favorite . . . making bread dough.  It was a little messy, but so much fun.

Today we split into two different groups and visited the Great Harvest Bread Company.  Aileen, our Training Director, took five of our trainees to the Great Harvest store located at 12560 W. Fairview Ave and I took two trainees to the store located at 5608 W. Fairview Ave.

We had a great experience!  The vocabulary we practiced in class came to life.  Some of our group got to slice and bag bread, while others made honey butter and greased bread pans.  We got to see all the machines used to make bread and grind flour.

Classroom instruction is an important first step in the English acquisition process, but the site visit is invaluable.  It’s where everything comes together . . . the theoretical becomes real.

Thanks to everyone at Great Harvest Bread Company!  You and companies like you help our program achieve success.

Common Ground Farm in Summer

Friends, we’re out of CG Farm 1/2 shares ($250 / 10 weeks)–so sorry!  You can still purchase FULL-SHARES or produce from us at our farm stand.….days of operation still TBD.  We’ll let you know (likely Wednesdays and Sundays, and possibly Mondays).

Get your farm FULL SHARE now while they last ($400)….this buys you a full-season of fresh, organically and sustainably produced veggies (likely 22 – 27 weeks long).  You’ll select from one of our two pick-up days and show up to our farm stand at 4750 S. Surprise Way where you’ll grab your veggies.

Huge thanks to the juniors and seniors from Bishop Kelly (BK)  High School!  In just a few hours, you accomplished more at the farm site than we could have done in a week!

The BK team:

Cleared more ground, expanding our plantable farm-ground to 2 acres

Spread compost over the entire garden (our healthy plants will thank you…and our planet!)

Worked as guest trainers in our classroom with our 12 trainees from Burundi and the Congo

Helped 12 folks learning the ropes in a new land know they are welcome and belong

Inspired us with your enthusiasm, teachability, selflessness and fun!

Many many thanks to Kim Meier, not only for organizing this tremendous team, but for all the veggies your classes are starting inside for spring planting!

You are ALL amazing!

Wednesday is site visit day for the Common Ground trainees.  This week we visited the Bohrn To Achieve Child Care center.  We arrived during the organized chaos of lunch; preschoolers feeding themselves pieces of hot dog and broccoli, toddlers in highchairs fighting to keep their eyes open, and babies snuggling down for their afternoon naps.

Donna Bohrn, the owner/director, led us on a tour of the facility.  We carefully wound our way through the brightly colored rooms. The children watched us with differing levels of curiosity and the child care providers happily answered our questions.

We had a great experience at Bohrn To Achieve.  Thanks Donna and staff for sharing with us a glimpse of your world.

I’m at home now . . . writing this blog and I could give you a detailed accounting of our visit, but two things keep pushing their way to the front of my mind.

First  . . . Bohrn to Achieve is a place of love.  The children are happy and the providers obviously love their jobs.

Second . . . rather than babysitters, the Bohrn To Achieve staff are childcare providers.  Donna told us that they provide educational enrichment, mental stimulation, fun, safety, and most of all love.

Bohrn to Achieve is a great example of a family.  Not necessarily a family related by blood, but a group of people who care for each other.  The Common Ground family is very similar.  We care for each other, we share with each other, we love each other.

Angie

Common Ground Training Specialist

Experiential job training for the refugee community resulting in our trainees’ ability to find, perform and retain jobs.

While the best known face of Common Ground is our garden/farming operation , the most extensive and intense training occurs in the classroom.  The training is the core and primary purpose of the program, although not as easily seen.

Using a curriculum developed for Common Ground by a group of highly qualified educators with specific expertise in English as a second language (ESL) and refugee issues, we take our trainees through an industry-wide concentrated program.

Helping the trainees understand the vocabulary, develop skills and grasp employer expectations for key industries is the focus of our training. Industries such as food service/restaurants, janitorial, housekeeping and laundry, agriculture, hospitality/hotels and maintenance, warehouse and production tend to provide the best job potenetial for our trainees, so these are the industries we incorporate into our training.

During a typical week of training, we will focus on a specific industry. We will spend several hours in traditional classroom instruction, often introducing new vocabulary or skills. The class often splits of into smaller groups for role play, skills pratice and to work one-on-one with trainers. When possible, we will go “on location” to a local business for tours, demonstrations, and even training in the industry with is the focus in that particular week.

For those who are ready to learn computer skills, we may spend several hours a week, focusing on those skills, while other students may continue to work on their conversational skills.

The only way to truly understand the energy and transformative nature of the classroom is to visit. It is inspiring to watch these resilient folk come into the classroom, shy, reserved, sometimes deeply weary from the huge cares they caryy, and begin to open up and grow as they learn to express themselves in our language.

For those of us in the classroom, it’s like discovering treasure  to hear our trainees’ stories, learn about their families and understand their  dreams. And the training itself gives them renewed hope that they may yet see their dreams fulfilled. Can there be anything more exciting than helping them embark on their new life here in the US?

Note: We want to thank Eastwind Community Church for the use of their classrooms for many months, and El-Ada Community Action for the belief in this program and their support, as well as the classroom space they are currently providing for our trainees.

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Common Ground Farm in Summer

Experiential job training for the refugee community resulting in our trainees’ ability to find, perform and retain jobs.

This is the mission of Common Ground. It is the thread that runs through every action we perform and every interaction we initiate or experience. But we accomplish this training in several different ways.

The most well-known facet of our work is the Common Ground farm in east Boise. This small parcel of land serves several purposes. First and most important, it is an on-the-job training ground for many of our students. They learn about agriculture, gardening, even yard care through working with our head Farmer, Devi. As Devi instructs them, our trainees learn to understand employer expectations and to ask questions (an important and difficult skill). They also interact with customers and work side-by-side with volunteers, giving them a chance develop friendships and improve their language skills.

The farm also provides employment for a few refugees throughout the growing season, and supports itself through the sale of Common Ground Farm Shares.

Last year the farm produced 50,000 lbs of produce. While Farm Share holders, customers, and local businesses enjoyed the fresh veggies, over 10,000 lbs went to the Idaho Food Bank and our trainees.

Volunteers play a crucial role in the success of the farm, as they (often entire families) help prepare the land, plant, maintain and harvest the crops. It’s a community effort.

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