Goodwin College in East Hartford, Conn. will offer free classes to homeless and recently homeless people in cooperation with Charter Oak's Beat of the Streets program, the Hartford Courant reported.
Since last September, the Charter Oak Cultural Center has been running a program to offer free classes to anyone who wishes to participate. The Beat of the Streets Center for Creative Learning offers courses including journalism, non-violent communications and social media in the basement of the First Church of Christ on Gold Street with volunteer professionals.
Eight students graduated from the program in May, which requires the completion of 12 courses or four two-hour classes. Some students went to Charter Oak Executive Director Donna Berman wanting to continue on their educational path. She said her first choice for working out free college classes was Goodwin College and immediately began working with the school's president, Mark Scheinberg.
"I have this philosophy that the most important thing we can say to one another is, 'I believe in you,'" Berman said. "I hope these students see that they can really do anything; that despite all of the constraints that have been imposed on them in their childhood, by society, by the government, they can really flourish."
Aldene Burton, 62, will attend Goodwin for a public speaking course after finishing the Cahrter Oak program. He used to work for a log cabin builder and clinical psychologist and maître d'. After he was evicted following his aunt's sudden death, Burton spent six years living under a bridge and spent all his money on his friends and on booze.
He is not interested in getting a degree, but rather is just aiming to improve himself.
"I could take more classes, but I'm too old to go to school," said Burton. "I'm not looking for an education. I'm looking to better myself."
Salvatore Pinna, 51, another Charter Oak graduate, will take a reading and writing course at Goodwin. Pinna said he has been homeless since 1994, after his mother died, and sleeps outside, "anywhere that's safe."
"When I was going to high school I was smart, but I wanted to go out and have fun. I was a dreamer when I was young," Pinna said. "I thought I would chase my dreams and do what I wanted to do instead of learning."
Berman and Scheinberg said they hope their collaboration helps people like Pinna and Burton turn a corner in their lives. Five Charter Oak graduates will be permitted to take one class between $1,700 and $2,000, with books and supplies also free of charge.
"The problem you have with the homeless is their stability. They are every bit as smart and capable as everybody, and by the grace of God, things just didn't work out," Scheinberg said. "We really feel that we have the ability to make change in these peoples' lives."
