A staggering number of adults living in Oak Cliff are struggling to make ends meet. For a majority of them, it’s because they don’t have a high school diploma or the equivalent. For Oak Cliff, a community center in the area, is trying to change that, one test score at a time. The community center has been hosting a free GED prep class for the last couple of years.
The hope is to decrease the number of adults without a GED or the equivalent in the community.
Compared to Dallas/Fort Worth, nearly 40-percent of adults in Oak Cliff don’t have a high school degree and earn 60-percent less income according to the 2016 US Census.
"It’s a chance for me not to let them down to take a chance on me,” said Shalisha Taylor, who attends the GED prep class at For Oak Cliff. “Because everybody needs a helping hand or a step up."
Taylor dropped out of high school after getting pregnant with her first child. The now single mother of four has raised all of her children and said it is now time for her to finish what she started.
She said it's about being a good role model for her children and her grandchildren.
"I’m really big on following through on what you want to do,” said class instructor Krystal Renee. “For Oak Cliff has been that fire underneath a lot of people who want to."
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Renee said this free, GED program is giving these adults a hand up in life and not just a hand out. Not only are they providing the education for free, they also pay for the adults to take the tests and provide free childcare for the adults while they take the classes. That's a perk Taylor said she wished would have been around when she was younger. She said she may have gotten her GED earlier had there been a similar program for her.
The bottom line for her and the other people taking advantage of the free class, this is their chance to start thriving.
“This is helping achieve our goals and that’s a blessing,” said Taylor.
For more information on For Oak Cliff’s GED program and the expansion planned for February, visit their website at ForOakCliff.org/ged or you can email them at info@foroakcliff.org.
