The North Side Learning Center opened its doors for the first time this week and students came pouring in.
Forty adults signed up ahead of time for the center’s English classes and they showed up Tuesday evening, as did 26 walk-ins. Plus children.
“As soon as we opened the door, we knew it would be like this, based on the research,” Yusef Soule said.
He is one of six friends who created the center to serve the neighborhood refugee population. They’ve done it, Soule said, with money from their own pockets, help from their families and nothing but volunteer labor.
The center will hold a “grand opening” at 2 p.m. Saturday. It is located at 808 N. McBride St., above the Family Dollar store. That’s within walking distance for much if its target audience, Soule said.
The majority of the students are refugees from Burma, Iraq and Somalia, but, like the sign on the doors says, all are welcome, he said.
The organizers didn’t want to step on toes or duplicate services and researched what the community needed most, he said. English classes toped the list. The center also an academic program for young children who accompany moms to their lessons, and homework help for middle and high school students.
When adults complete all three levels of English classes at the center, it will offer them a business and entrepreneurship class. The goal is to get the students empowered and employed, Soule said.
“Because we don’t want to hand out, we want to hand up and get them going and giving back to the community,” he said.
Soule said he and his friends are motivated by their faith to help the refugee community. They are part of the Islamic Society of Central New York and launched the project because a basic tenant of their faith is to help others, Soule said.
He coordinates a Syracuse school district program for students with disabilities on the Syracuse University campus. The other men, all from Syracuse or its suburbs, are professionals or entrepreneurs, Soule said. Four are immigrants. Soule is from Binghamton, moved to Syracuse to earn his doctorate and stayed put.
Mirza Tihic and Steven Mustafa Abdul-Aziz will run the center’s business and entrepreneurship program. Tihic is a refugee from Bosnia who came to Syracuse and earned multiple degrees. He runs an entrepreneurship program within SU’s School of Whitman Management, Soule said. Abdul-Aziz is a Palestinian refuge who became a general manager at an automobile dealership and likes to help refugees like himself, Soule said.
The center founders are working on a plan for its long-term financing and future, including talking with the city school district about garnering its support, Soule said.
For the moment, the center is counting on donations. There will be an “adopt a project” board posted during the grand opening that lists the center’s needs. Soule thinks visitors will open their wallets to support the center’s students.
“Everyone wants a revitalized city, nobody wants it to dry up and go away. And this is something that will revitalize the city, I think. Hopefully like a beacon, a light if you will, for other folks,” he said.
Contact Maureen Nolan at 470-2185 or email@example.com.