ABOUT US

Goals of JDAC

The goal of Juan Diego Adult Centers is to provide English language and citizenship classes that build, develop, and strengthen students’ English skills and support them during the process of applying for U.S. citizenship. Our courses are one-year long and continue for as long as a student is committed to attending our classes or until a student reaches a proficiency level that is equivalent to a native speaker.

Our classes enable students to:

• interact more effectively in their community
• be well informed and participating community members

We offer opportunities to meet the language and naturalization needs of many immigrants in our community in a proactive manner. Educating a population makes them fully capable of assimilating into all levels of jobs, family, school, and community and empowers immigrants to better integrate into the fabric of life here in the San Diego area – which truly makes us a multicultural city.

History

The Juan Diego Adult Center was founded in 2005, when English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for adults began at what was originally called Marian High School and today is known as Mater Dei Catholic. A second location included St. Jude Parish in San Diego. In 2013, three new locations were added, including St. Rose of Lima in Chula Vista, Mt. Carmel in San Ysidro, and St. Charles in Imperial Beach. These sites continue to provide English classes for adults in the evenings depending on the site and the classrooms available.

In 2012, we also started Citizenship classes to aid immigrants in passing the oral interview and written exam to become U.S. citizens. We added a second location for these classes in 2013 at Mt. Carmel. In 2019, we began Citizenship classes on Saturday mornings at the San Ysidro Library.

Thanks to the ALSAM foundation, established by Lennie Sam Skaggs of Salt Lake City, Utah, we have been blessed to offer free classes to our students looking to improve their language skills, acclimate to a new culture, and become U.S. citizens.