PROVIDENCE, RI – March 13th, 2017 – Rhode Island Welcome Back Center (RIWBC), a state adult education initiative that serves underemployed, internationally-trained professionals, announces today a new partnership with College Unbound (CU). College Unbound is a bachelor’s degree completion program which was approved on May 20, 2015 as the 13th degree-granting institution in Rhode Island.
The RIWBC supports a population of immigrant scholar practitioners who are looking to continue their work in RI but are unable to progress due to numerous regulatory, language, and educational barriers and boundaries. Similarly, College Unbound works to break down boundaries in higher education that keep marginalized students from a bachelor’s degree. Through this partnership, the RIWBC and CU can work together to create a more inclusive, and diverse workforce in Rhode Island.
“We are truly excited to begin this new chapter for the RIWBC in partnership with CU. We are looking forward to exploring ways in which, together, we can take the services provided to immigrant professionals in RI to an entirely new level,” said Manuela Raposo, Director of the RIWBC. Dennis Littky, President of College Unbound and Founder of the Met School in Providence, says, “This partnership comes at an important time. Now more than ever before, we need to come together to support the marginalized and their pursuits of success. College Unbound is a talent developer, and we are so excited to work with RIWBC to continue developing the talented individuals here in Rhode Island.”
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About College Unbound
College Unbound facilitates a real-world curriculum built around projects which students design in connection to their work and interests. The development of field-specific knowledge and skills are interlaced through a combination of courses, field studies, and in-depth work on projects with meaningful impact. At the center of the curriculum are College Unbound’s Leadership and Change Habits of Practice and Mind – The Big 10. These skills have been identified as essential to employers and necessary for success in life.
College Unbound students engage in continual field study, examining their spheres of interest and professions through direct, face-to-face interactions with experts. Each real-world project requires research, interviewing and building relationships, and testing theories and ideas in ways that are meaningful to the student and beneficial to the community and/or the organization.
About Rhode Island Welcome Back Center (RIWBC)
The Rhode Island Welcome Back Center (RIWBC), founded in June 2008 as a state adult education initiative, serves an unusual population identified in RI’s Strategic Workforce Plan, 2009-2014: a highly skilled, underemployed, low-wage earning adult. This person is the internationally trained professional who is seeking to use his or her skills in a higher-level occupation. RIWBC helps these individuals by providing a comprehensive continuum of services that includes career pathway planning and employer networking, English-language instruction contextualized for health, re-credentialing and licensing support, employer-based clinical exposure and internship opportunities, acculturation to the U.S. healthcare system, and tutoring and study groups to ensure licensing exam preparation.