Registration is underway for fall classes for children and adults at the BakerRipley East Aldine Center, with options ranging from party-decorating and jewelry-making to family Zumba and other physical recreation activities.

Spirited dancers from Ballet Folklorico classes for children and adults, and kids from Tae Kwon Do classes, demonstrated their new-found skills at a recent open house that drew a crowd of families.

All 34 classes are free to family members of BakerRipley, Houston’s largest non-profit community service organization. Membership categories are $150 for family, which includes two adults and their children; $75 for adults age 18 to 59; $35 for people over age 60; and $50 membership per child.

Families enrolled in Community Health Choice Medicaid plans can get a free membership, and BakerRipley plans to start offering free memberships to other low-income families.

The fall classes run from Sept. 6 through Dec. 9 and are offered from Monday to Saturday at 3000 Aldine Mail Route Rd., in the East Aldine Town Center. Some classes are during the day, others are for after-school activities for children and evening classes for families.

At the open house, Folklorico teacher Alma Ramos wowed the crowd with a dancing demonstration that got the audience clapping along with popular tunes. Sisters Valentina Pinon, 7, and Camilla Pinon, 8, got up early so their mother could weave red ribbons through their dark braids and apply just the right shade of red lipstick to match their traditional costumes from Mexico.

BakerRipley manager of community development Rosie Hernandez introduced Jonathan H Bisso, the new director of educational enrichment for all of BakerRipley’s centers in the Houston area.

A former teacher and native of Peru, Bisso is proud to be celebrating his sixth anniversary as a U.S. citizen.

He strongly believes that community education allows families access to economic opportunities.

“As enrichment coordinator, my job is to educate families who may want to learn a trade so that they can potentially benefit from it,” Bisso said. “We have a lot of individuals who have taken a class at BakerRipley, and they learned something new. Some of them are now teachers, or they started a new business. We want the community to take advantage of the classes and better themselves.”

“Our classes are hands-on, and the instructors are thrilled to be giving back to the community,” Bisso said. “We are a country of immigrants and living up to our potential is a really important thing.”

The slogan for BakerRipley’s educational enrichment program is “Earn. Learn. Belong.”

Bisso said the “fun” classes offered by BakerRipley demonstrate to families that learning can be lifelong and rewarding.

The classes often lead people to enroll in GED (high school equivalency) or ESL (English as a Second Language) classes, which have a long waiting list after postponements caused by  the Covid pandemic. Now classes are offered in person, as well as online.

For information, contact BakerRipley at 346-570-4463.