Casino Road Adult Education Academy will serve thousands of adult students in the community

A Memorandum of Understanding was recently signed to formalize a coalition among Seattle Goodwill Industries, Edmonds Community College, and the YMCA of Snohomish County. The coalition will be known as the Casino Road Adult Education Academy.

The Academy will provide education, support, and opportunities to isolated, marginalized, and low-income communities in the form of adult basic education, case management services, child care, and additional services and programs.

Classes will begin in April and will be held at the Children’s Village complex on Casino Road in Everett.

The YMCA has collaborated with Seattle Goodwill for three years and provides English for Speakers of Other Languages, an eight-week class to improve consumer skills, and prepare students for employment or educational programs.

“The YMCA is excited to welcome Edmonds Community College to Casino Road and to form the new Casino Road Adult Education Academy coalition together with Goodwill,” said Cory Armstrong-Hoss, Associate Executive Director, Mukilteo Family YMCA. “Our Y provides space, promotion, and free childcare for our students, and our partners provide expert instruction and assessment, as well as case management and job placement services. This is huge for the Casino Road community, and will help us to serve well over 200 adult students this year.”

Edmonds CC will begin by offering a mid-level English as a Second Language class that focuses not only on language acquisition, but includes office skills. The class is a regular part of their pre-college ESL program and will allow students to take further classes at the college that will lead to employment and pathways to degree programs.

“Edmonds Community College is pleased to be a partner with the YMCA and Goodwill Industries in forming the Casino Road Adult Education Academy,” said David Cordell, Vice President for International Education at Edmonds CC. “We believe it will open educational opportunities and further their path to further education by providing a nearby site for students who cannot attend classes at our campus in Lynnwood,” Cordell continued. “This is a great start in bringing education to the community and in combining the strengths and resources of our three organizations to serve the residents of South Snohomish County-we hope that it will expand to other offerings in the future.”

“Seattle Goodwill is excited to be a partnering with the YMCA and Edmonds Community College because there is a greater opportunity to serve even more students and create more opportunities,” said Barbara "b.g." Nabors-Glass, Vice President, Job Training and Education at Seattle Goodwill. “Working together, we will now be able to support students with even more resources, like providing child care, which will increase further education and employment. This partnership will strengthen education resources as well as the local community.”