Valley Opportunity Council Helps Immigrants on Path to Citizenship

June 9, 2017

CHICOPEE - What a visitor encounters in a third-floor classroom in Valley Opportunity Council's Mount Carmel Avenue offices in Chicopee every Thursday evening looks very much like the "face of the world."

About 18 people, each from a different corner of the globe, participate in a 10-week class designed to prepare them for the interview and test they must successfully complete in order to become citizens of the United States.

The road to U.S. citizenship is not easy, and the interview and test aspiring citizens must pass is rendered as part of a one-on-one interview with a U.S. immigration officer. It is comforting for members of this Valley Opportunity Council class that the woman teaching the course has walked in the same shoes as her students.

While the class is small, the impact to participants is life-changing.

For Helena Dixon, the journey that brought her to Valley Opportunity Council, where she serves as instructor of its citizenship Class, started in Brazil. Today, she lives in Ludlow, where, in addition to her career, she joins her husband, a native of New Jersey, as an active volunteer in the community.

Little did Dixon know that the pathway to becoming a U.S. citizen that included taking the Valley Opportunity Council citizenship course would lead to her one day teaching the classes.

Read the entire MassLive article about VOC's Citizenship class: http://www.masslive.com

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Seen on WWLP: Valley Opportunity Council to reopen Women, Infants & Children office in Ludlow

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LUDLOW, Mass. (WWLP) – The Valley Opportunity Council will reopen its Women, Infants & Children’s (WIC) office in Ludlow on Wednesday. The Ludlow office, located at 14 Chestnut Place, closed during the pandemic, and a grand re-opening ceremony is set for 10:00 a.m., according to a news release from the Valley Opportunity Council. The grand reopening ceremony will feature snacks, activities, and a raffle, and will provide information to the community about available resources offered through the WIC program. WIC is a nutrition program that serves qualified families in Massachusetts. They provide nutrition education, referrals to healthcare, and social service agencies, and a WIC card that can be redeemed at certain grocery stores and pharmacies. There are WIC offices in Chicopee, Holyoke, and Westfield. The Valley Opportunity Council also offers assistance with housing, energy, and early education. They are the largest and most diverse Community Action Agency in western Massachusetts with an annual budget of $45 million.

VOC offers over 30 community programs in a wide variety of areas throughout Hampden County in Western Massachusetts.

VOC and our correspondences are funded with a variety of sources that includes Federal Funds from various departments of the US Health and Human Services, including the Office of Community Services, which are not responsible for or endorse any of the content here.