Upon migrating from their home in Jamaica, sisters, Bridgette Birch-Dolam and Esther Birch-Lewars resided in the city of Orange for ten years from 1995 to 2005. Bridgette graduated from Orange High in 1999 and pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management at Rutgers University-Newark. Afterward, Bridgette accepted an office manager position at her cousin’s mortgage company. Trevor McKenzie, the first in her family to own a business, bought the building at 37 North Center Street and transformed it into Cosmopolitan Mortgage, Inc. Fresh out of college, Bridgette was thrilled to help him grow and nurture his client base. Two years later, she decided to embark on a passion; teaching. For fifteen years, Bridgette has been an English teacher in Newark Public and Charter Schools. Thirteen of those years have been dedicated to instructing, supervising, and consulting within the scope of English as a Second Language. Bridgette has been responsible for screening and placing pupils in an ESL/Bilingual program, supervising a cohort of ESL and bilingual teachers, mentoring ESL student teachers from various universities, and completing bi-annual federal reports for 80+ students to receive Title I funding each school year. Bridgette strives to empower bilingual adult immigrants as they develop English proficiency to interact in the job market, communicate with children’s school staff, and engage with businesses and organizations in their communities. It is only fitting that Birch ESL Institute is planting roots in the city that welcomed Bridgette and her family upon migrating to the United States twenty-nine years ago.