Jacynthe Blais Jacques, a native French speaker from the Chaudière-Apalaches region of Québec, has lived and raised her family in Maine for the past 20+ years. While focusing on raising her family, she became acquainted with various local cultural and language programs and later got involved with the French Heritage Language Program activities at the Franco Center, where she taught French in after-school settings, developed family classes and extra-curricular programs, incorporating collaborative efforts with local agencies and a team of part-time teachers, assistants, and volunteers, to create cultural and linguistic opportunities for area students and adults. Passionate about language learning & access, as well as with the impact these have on community, she is now managing interpreting and accessibility programs at St. Mary’s Hospital. She is also the proud mémère of a lovely bilingual grand-child, and is staying involved as a board member of AFduME and Literacy Volunteers-Androscoggin.
Jacynthe Blais
