U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro came to Shelton Monday (March 30) to speak to an English as a Second Language class.
In remarks to about 50 students in a classroom at the Valley Regional Adult Education’s Adult Learning Center inside the Conti Building at 415 Howe Ave., DeLauro said ESL programs offer immigrants a chance to better themselves and assimilate to a country offering endless opportunities to newcomers.
“I am the daughter of an immigrant family who could truly only dare to dream that their only child, their daughter, would someday sit in the United States House of Representatives,” DeLauro said. “That is the most important piece of information I could convey to you today.”
VRAE Director Reina Marasco thanked DeLauro for speaking to the class and for making adult education a priority, especially for immigrants.
“They’ve worked hard every day in hopes of making a better life for themselves, their family, and their community,” she said.
DeLauro recounted her father’s journey from a small town near Pompeii, Italy to the United States, and how he taught himself to read and write English on his own, eventually becoming an interpreter in New Haven.
DeLauro said her mother, Luisa, was a first-generation American who worked in sweatshops sewing garments from the age of 14.
Both of DeLauro’s parents would go on to serve as elected officials in New Haven. DeLauro’s mother, Luisa, now 101, is the longest-serving alderperson in the history of New Haven.
Click here to read more about Luisa DeLauro’s legacy in a story from the New Haven Independent’s Allan Appel.
DeLauro said programs like those offered by VRAE are crucial tools for people who come to the United States seeking a better life.
“As we more and more celebrate the diversity not only of our state but of this country, ESL is such a big and increasingly important part of making immigrants, new arrivals, feel at home, and that they’re not by themselves, they’re not on their own,” DeLauro said. “There are people committed to helping them.”
Click here to learn more about VRAE’s ESL program on its website.
