Lt. Gov. Tim Murray to award MetroWest ESL charity today in Lynn

By Jaclyn Reiss, Town Correspondent

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and the English Works campaign will join with Secretary of Labor Joanne Goldstein and others to honor the MetroWest ESL Fund of Framingham, along with 18 Massachusetts businesses, in Lynn today for recognizing the importance of helping their workers learn English.

The award ceremony will highlight the importance of immigrants to the Massachusetts economy, where one in six workers is foreign-born.

It also will raise awareness about the shortage of affordable, high quality English language instruction, demonstrating how businesses have become involved in creative private-public partnerships to solve the shortfall, according to a statement released from the Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

The MetroWest ESL Fund was established in 1999 by a group of business leaders who were concerned about the increasing number of people trying to get a spot in English classes at Framingham Adult ESL Plus. Over the past 12 years, the Fund has raised over $600,000 to support six classes and over 200 students per year at Framingham Adult ESL Plus.

The members of the MetroWest ESL Fund represent many area businesses who realize the importance of an educated skilled workforce. The Fund possesses support of a wide variety of companies including: Middlesex Savings Bank, Framingham Cooperative Bank, Bernardi Auto Group, Eastern Bank, TJX Companies, Day Pitney, BOSE, Metrowest Medical Center, The Baltic Group LLC, and the Belkin Family Lookout Farm, among many others.

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To contact Jaclyn Reiss, email her at jaclyn.reiss@gmail.com