Daysi Flores - EARN Maryland Program - Asian American Center of Frederick (AACF) – Success Story - Workforce Development and Adult Learning

Daysi Flores is 26 years old, and she moved to the United States from Honduras in 2017 together with her husband and baby girl. Due to her limited English proficiency and responsibilities as a mother, she was not able to look for a job immediately. Her husband worked hard to support the family, even as available opportunities were not well paid. Daysi had a good education from her country - a bachelor’s degree in business psychology and an elementary teacher diploma - but her lack of language skills held her back. After some consideration, she decided to take an English as a Second Language (ESL) class at the Montgomery Literacy Council and has been attending it ever since.

In 2018, she volunteered to help at the Asian Indian Center of Montgomery County, where she heard about AACF and the EARN Maryland grant program. She immediately applied for the Community Health Worker (CHW) training program and attended both parts of the training together with her baby girl. She found time to volunteer for AACF outreach programs, such as ZIKA Awareness and Tobacco Cessation. She traveled with a group of other CHW trainees to the National CHW Conference in Las Vegas and volunteered to help with interpreting for the AACF Maternity Program for Hispanic women. Shortly thereafter, she applied for the next EARN Project Training for CHW Interpreters. She jokes that her baby girl can work as an CHW interpreter too, after attending so many classes.

Several months ago, Daysi received an offer from the Asian Indian Center and started her first part-time job as a CHW there. We understand how difficult her life was when she had to study and take care of her baby, but she had a good and supportive husband who helped her a lot, and now she can help him provide for the family. Daysi says that education is the right way to start a long trip to success and that she is very grateful that the CHW program was free and accessible to her.