Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Fox.
Hi Julie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In 1995, Sister Elise Silvestri began the program now known as Immigrant Home English Learning Program (IHELP). Sr. Elise was working in St. Louis and read an article in the newspaper that a local parish was helping Vietnamese immigrants who were being resettled in the St. Louis area.
As a first-generation Italian American, Sr. Elise knew what it was like to grow up in a house where her father spoke broken English so she contacted the parish wanting to know more about how she could get involved. She learned that most of the work being done was social work and group classes. Being a teacher, she knew that English learning would be more effective on a one-on-one basis. Seven Vietnamese women decided that they would like a teacher in their homes.
Before she knew it, other area Sisters were contacting her to see how they could get involved. From there the Immigrant & Refugee Women’s Program (IRWP) was founded as a project of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The group that continued to grow wrote a curriculum that focused on the skills that immigrants and refugees would need to navigate their new community along with English language learning. The program continued to grow and in 2006 it officially became a 501(c)(3). Over the first 25 years of the program over 1,300 students have learned English thanks to over 1,200 volunteer teachers.
In 2018, I began working for the program as its second Executive Director. My whole career has been in the non-profit spectrum and for the previous 12 years, I had worked with the Girl Scouts where I grew fond of the idea of empowering girls and women to do amazing things. I was very attracted to the mission of the organization and instantly knew that I wanted to be part of the program.
Over the past three years, I have been so thankful to be able to work with amazing students, volunteers, and staff to broaden the opportunities to not only learn English but also build independence and community connections.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth?!? Is it ever smooth? Growing pains began to really affect the organization in 2016 during the presidential election. The number of those interested in volunteering and donating drastically increased. Around the same time, the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the area added to the number of students waiting for a teacher.
When I began with the organization I had never seen so much paper in my career. Quickly my physical inbox filled with papers I was unsure that I needed or really what to do with it all. The staff was really open to looking at how we could automate processes and begin to use all the technology that was easily accessible to us. I am thankful that we started down this path when we did because of what the future held for us.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit us hard. Our program was one-on-one interaction in the homes of our students. We immediately had to suspend classes and figure out how the program could continue in this new era. The Board and Staff came together quickly to start a program adaptation committee to move the program to a digital platform.
Around June of 2020, we began training for our volunteers to teach English over computers and phones. Soon after, we helped students and teachers get set up with all the tools they needed to resume their English classes.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The job of the Executive Director is all-encompassing. From finance to general office maintenance. there is almost nothing the organization does that I do not have a hand in. That being said, my favorite part of the job would be event planning. I really enjoy the creative thinking that is needed to execute a successful fundraising event.
In 2019, I developed what is now an annual program, toast to IHELP. The idea came from my love of public radio and brunch. Toast to IHELP features student/teacher pairs telling their experiences in the program in a story format. Attendees are able to indulge in brunch and a bloody mary/mimosa bar. The first year was a big success and exceeded our expectations.
This is common in my career and personal life. I volunteered for two years for the Best Friend’s Organization Strut Your Mutt to put on successful fundraising events in St. Louis.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Determine the areas where your skills can improve and become involved in groups in the area that focus on those skills. Through those organizations, you are able to network and usually identify a mentor. Of course, mentors are all around you, you just have to be open to that relationship.
I entered the immigrant service providers arena with no experience in working with immigrants so I quickly started to reach out to similar organizations to learn about what work they did and how we work together collectively to serve our community.
I attended anything and everything that revolved around immigrants and refugees and that is where I met peers that would help mentor me and become friends. It is all about being open to the experience knowing that it will benefit you and others.
Contact Info:
- Email: program@ihelpstl.org
- Website: ihelpstl.org
- Instagram: @ihelp.stl
- Facebook: ihelp.stl
- Youtube: IHELP STL
