This month’s story celebrates five years of our Workplace Literacy program at Wild Oats Bakery & Café in Brunswick.

Wild Oats was our first workplace site, developed through the collaboration of two MCL tutors, Anne Childs and Julie Criscitiello. “We started with a class of four new Mainers, and we quickly learned that not only was there basic translation we needed to work on, but there was this cultural piece too,” said Marshall Shepherd, Wild Oats Managing Partner. “Over the years, the Midcoast Literacy teachers have always been willing to rise to the challenge and work on whatever industry-specific topics we needed or just go over a pay stub and how the taxes work.”

Our Wild Oats classes have continued to evolve since 2021 to meet the needs of the managers and employees there. As more non-native English-speaking employees joined the team, we split into more classes to give more advanced English speakers the focus they need while still helping beginners learn their way around Wild Oats. According to Shepherd, “Between 15 and 20% of the workforce is now made up of new Mainers.” But what has stayed the same is a terrifically supportive team at Wild Oats and dedicated volunteer teachers. We now have four teachers, including Anne Childs who is still there. “The class gives them an opportunity to grow into other jobs,” said Anne. “It’s an hour that is set aside for them. They don’t have to carve it out themselves. It’s just there, and they can go practice English.”