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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - November 11, 2008
Kim Nichols Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
November 11, 2008

New York, New York Resident Wins Cash Award To Provide Childcare For West African Immigrant Women Enrolled In ESL Classes


(New York, NY, November 11, 2008) - New York, New York resident Kim Nichols, 54, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for women throughout the country. Kim was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. She is the fifth recipient of a Hello Tomorrow Fund award in New York state since the program launched in 2007, and was selected by a newly expanded panel of judges that now includes Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and actress Phylicia Rashad. Kim will use her award to offer childcare to immigrant women from West Africa who are attending English classes through the African Services Committee English as a Second Language Program (ASC ESL).

The African Services Committee reports that immigrants from 40 different African countries have migrated to the New York City area since the early 1980’s. Today, 1 in 20 New Yorkers is African-born and these immigrants often speak little or no English, thus often denied the opportunity to receive a traditional education. As a result, many receive low wages, cannot afford childcare, and aren’t able to participate in civic or social affairs outside of their own culture. Furthermore, language can create a barrier between these women and their children, who are integrating into American society on their own, though schooling and social interactions.

Kim has dedicated her career to improving the welfare of people in the African immigrant Diaspora. She has worked for the Harlem-based African Services Committee for over 25 years. In college, Kim spent time in Kenya, where she lived on a coffee cooperative, and in Ethiopia working to improve child welfare. While in Ethiopia, she taught mathematics to children living in remand homes, which were “children’s prisons,” she says. Forced to leave Ethiopia because of a military coup d’état in 1974, she returned to the US and has spent the last 25 years developing health, housing, legal, and nutritional programs for African and Caribbean immigrants. Through her work with immigrant women, she realized that lack of childcare was a major obstacle for those not attending ESL classes. “Supporting a woman’s ability to attend ESL classes is just such a seedling initiative, and despite finding funding for teaching classes, support for daycare has been difficult to initiate,” Kim says.

The ASC offers city-funded ESL classes to immigrant women and now thanks to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, Kim’s program will provide childcare to 50 women, ages 18 to 35, while they are in the classes. After securing an appropriate family daycare provider, ASC staff will reach out to young African immigrant mothers to inform them about both the classes and childcare services. Women who enroll will participate in two-hour ESL classes three times a week, for 12 weeks. When the cycle ends, the women’s English competency is tested, and when necessary, they are referred to GED tutoring at ASC, taking them one step closer to obtaining their high school diplomas. The simple creation of an on-site childcare service will enable 50 women with children to learn English, opening the door to pursuing education, to become more informed parents, and to join the broader community life of New York City.

Kim’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund met the criteria of clearly presenting unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including personal finance expert Suze Orman, actress Phylicia Rashad, Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and experts in business and grantmaking. “The lack of reliable childcare for African immigrant women who want to learn English and earn their GEDs is a major obstacle in getting them into ESL programs,” commented judge Anne Dowling on Kim’s proposal. “It will help these women take the first important step towards a better life and full integration of their families into the communities where they live.”

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