Feds recruit churches to help teach English

ORLANDO, Fla.-Adelino Najarro emigrated from Mexico four years ago. It was difficult in his country, he said. He had no job. Today, he makes his living in the kitchen of a restaurant. To improve his English he goes to church. Twice a week, Iglesia Forest City here partners with the local school district to offer […]

ORLANDO, Fla.-Adelino Najarro emigrated from Mexico four years ago. It was difficult in his country, he said. He had no job. Today, he makes his living in the kitchen of a restaurant. To improve his English he goes to church. Twice a week, Iglesia Forest City here partners with the local school district to offer English-as-second-language classes. “We the church are the first contact with the United States,” said the Rev. Santiago Panzardi, the church’s senior pastor and president of the Hispanic Christian Church Association of Central Florida. “The first place they knock is the church.” Now the federal government is lending its help to churches and religious groups that offer these services, a welcome gesture for many, but for some not enough to assuage deeply held distrust of the government among some advocates and immigrants.

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