The Gables offers direct service programming to support educational initiatives in our local immigrant community. Our programming supports our community through classes that serve adult students striving to learn English and acquire citizenship. The classes support students and prepare them for the naturalization process. We engage a wider community through stimulating, thoughtful, community conversations on immigration and other social justice issues.
The unbounded vision of our founder, Caroline Emmerton, carries a remarkable, generative force: It continually inspires us to dig deep into the community, reach out to partners and magnify good.
The Gables offers English-as-a-second-language and citizenship classes to adults eager to learn English and those aspiring to become American citizens. The Gables also hosts naturalization ceremonies on its lawn for local residents who have completed our program as well as other soon-to-be citizens from the Boston area. Ceremonies are arranged in collaboration with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
For updates on class registration, events, and news, join our ESL and Citizenship Facebook group!
Each year, The House of the Seven Gables selects a theme to explore through Community Conversations. We invite experts in the relevant areas of study to present their work, discuss the relationship of the theme to The Gables and engage our community in meaningful conversations. Unlike a traditional lecture, this series encourages discussion between speakers and audience members.
This year’s topic is The Settlement Movement past and present. The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association as we know it today was established in 1910 and had grown out of the philanthropic work of our founder, Caroline Emmerton and the Salem Settlement Committee to serve Salem’s immigrant population. Over the last nearly 120 years, Settlement work has changed with the needs of the groups it serves. While many Settlement Associations closed over the course of the 20th century, the legacy, and in many cases the community offerings, remain. Additionally, the immigrant groups in Salem, their stories, and their contributions have changed, creating a more colorful and diverse cultural fabric here in Salem and the North Shore. This year’s Community Conversations series will focus on the history of the Settlement movement, the cultures of the groups with whom we work, and what Settlement and Salem looks like today.
The Settlement Programs are an important part of the HSG’s mission and your work educating visitors about the Settlement Programs contributes greatly to the overall viability of the program. We recently completed our Fall Session I ESL and Citizenship classes and I want to share with you some of the comments from the students who participated in the program.
