Even if you live in a walkable city like Boston, driving can be beneficial. It can open up job opportunities and help you get around more easily, which can be helpful if other travel options are difficult or impossible.
That’s how Johnny felt when he started the process of getting his driver’s license.
When he moved here from Haiti, he got a job as a sales associate at a department store, but the pay wasn’t enough. He wanted to get a second job with Uber Eats so he could help support his family. He also wanted to be able to take his mother to medical appointments.
“[Working for Uber Eats] give me the possibility to take care of myself. My income doesn’t give me possibility to take care of myself, my mother also,” Johnny said.
But Johnny had a lot to learn. The driver’s test is stressful for most of us, but for immigrants who don’t speak English well or come from countries with different traffic rules, it can be even more challenging. While Johnny knew some English before moving to the United States from Haiti, he needed to improve. Driving in his home country was also vastly different from what he experienced in the United States. In Haiti, he would often see young children sitting in vehicles without a car seat and there were fewer road signs.
Johnny started taking English-language classes at The Immigrant Learning Center earlier this year and his speaking has already greatly improved. He also learned a lot about the rules of the road from his teacher, which was an asset while studying for the test. Our English-language classes prepare students for life in the United States, and teachers will go over how to file taxes, how to build a budget, the structure of the government and a lot more.
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The package at The ILC is bigger because in Haiti, a school that’s teaching you English is teaching you only English. At The ILC, you learn how to build credit, you learn how to rent a house, you learn traffic rules. You learn how the government works. You learn how to know the city. You learn everything,” he said.
Many of our students have echoed Johnny’s sentiments, saying that a driver’s license unlocks so much of life in the United States, from better jobs to more freedom to getting involved in their communities. The Immigrant Learning Center ensures they have the tools and resources needed to navigate their future.