Rosie's Place trying to expand education offerings for clients

They gather on weekday mornings for educational and literacy classes.

More than 130 women fill the dining room tables at Rosie's Place at 889 Harrison Ave. to learn.

Space, though, has been tight.

"Right now we hold those classes before lunch, and we are literally out of room," said Sue Marsh, executive director of the Roxbury community center for poor and homeless women.

The center is hoping to expand its adult education program by moving into a row house next door at 887 Harrison Ave. The Boston Redevelopment Authority board unanimously approved the center's plan on Thursday.

The expansion of the four-year-old program will include eight classrooms and four offices. Construction is expected to begin in the spring.

Marsh, citing a need to offer more educational opportunities to poor and homeless women, says the expansion will allow Rosie's Place to triple the number of women who take classes there.

The program prepares some women for the GED high school equivalency test. Others take English as a second language courses. And some need one-on-one tutoring.

Many of the women had never set foot in a classroom as adults before, but they come nonetheless for an assortment of reasons: to be able to get a job, to communicate with their doctors, to know what their teenagers are discussing on their cellphones.

"There's a big need out there," she said.

Established in 1974, Rosie's Place offers emergency and long-term care to women who have no place else to turn.

The center, which relies on volunteers and private supporters, serves about 10,000 women annually.

MEGHAN IRONS