Executive Summary

At the center of Intercambio’s community is English Learners in the United States: immigrants, refugees, and those returning to the US as adults. People attending classes both online and in-person have shared the transformational impact on their lives and their families, from finding or improving employment, supporting their children in school, communicating with health providers, and feeling more integrated into the community. In 22 years of operating in Colorado, 10,000 adult learners have enrolled in English classes; approximately 750 students attend classes locally each year. Intercambio is now scaling this effective model nationally online to enroll 6,000 adult learners annually in volunteer-taught English classes by 2026.

Intercambio students have shared that although language is a big barrier to achieving these goals, it is not the only challenge. Students share a sense of disconnection from US culture due to the language barrier and unspoken norms. For that reason, Intercambio trains volunteers to be English teachers that support students and teachers to learn from each other. Both students and teachers say that this increases their ability to connect across cultural and language barriers and communicate more easily with others in the community. Most people naturally stay in their comfort zone, working and socializing with people that are the most like them in terms of socioeconomic status, race, cultural background, and language, but Intercambio’s program works to break down these barriers.

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