By Daily Press staff
The Santa Monica Adult Education Center has won a $57,000 grant from the state of California to expand its U.S. Citizenship program.
Since its founding in 1995, SMAEC’s Citizenship program has helped 1,546 clients prepare for the citizenship interview and file the complicated forms. Fewer than 1 percent of those students have failed to gain citizenship, according to program coordinator Patricia Hernandez.
Under tight budget constraints, the program has relied only on word-of-mouth referrals by students to neighbors and co-workers. The grant will allow SMAEC to launch an outreach campaign which includes television, radio, print media and postings in key locations around the area.
“We can expand our class offerings and provide additional help to adults wishing to become U.S. citizens,” said Stephen R. Martinez, SMAEC director.
For the first time, SMAEC will reach beyond Santa Monica — and as far as San Fernando, Silverlake, and Hollywood — to recruit new students.
“We are extremely honored to have been awarded this grant,” Martinez said. “This was a very competitive grant with agencies from all over California vying. In this time of statewide financial cutbacks, grants are becoming more and more difficult to win, and the competition is the tightest it has ever been.”
SMAEC offers classes in U.S. citizenship preparation, English, parenting, and high school diploma preparation.
In January, a new distance learning program will bring those classes to people who cannot attend on-campus classes.
For more information, call SMAEC at (310) 664-6222. Festival of lights coming to the Waldorf
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 3, 2004. Read the original PDF.