CAREER PATHWAYS FOR WOMEN ONLY

(Article published in HWW June 2009)

Erika Ford, age 25, has been homeless since she came to NYC from Jacksonville, Fla., almost a year ago. Her three kids are living with their dad while she stays in a single women’s shelter. But now, three weeks into a new “Career Pathways” program at STRIVE, she Is full of confidence. “I want to become a parole officer,” she says. “I want to help ex-offenders. I’ve had family in that situation and I know you can’t fight the system from the outside.” The course is full time, 5 days a week, and she says she loves it. “”They teach you discipline. I’ve learned how to be punctual, I’ve learned how to talk less and listen more.”

Gwen Henrich, age 36, ran her own cleaning business in Virginia for six years. After losing both her business and home, she moved to NYC. She has a grown daughter in Hawaii and two children, 11 and 9, with her at Alan’s House, a family shelter. “I tried getting into STRIVE five months ago.” she says. “But the shelter system has you running around to so many appointments I didn’t have time. Just to recertify for p.a. you have to go to the Center every three months and you don’t just go -- you have to spend the whole day there.”

In shelter, her kids were restless and complaining. “But once I started STRIVE,” she says, “I took everything I learned back home to them and they calmed down.” Her goal now: “I want to go back to being my own boss.”

Venus Ramos, age 26, learned about STRIVE from her case manager at Cauldwell Family Shelter. She’s been there with her 8-year-old daughter since she lost her apartment in Queens earlier this year. “I told my case manager I wanted to be a Correction Officer. I wanted to get my GED. And I wanted as much help as I could get.”

Venus works 20 hours a week on weekends at a retail children’s clothing store. That qualifies her for the Work Advantage subsidy. And it allows her time to devote Monday to Friday, from 9 to 4 , to STRIVE.

“The most important thing I’ve learned” she says “is patience. – patience in working with all different kinds of people.”

Erika, Gwen, and Venus are students in a new “Career Pathways” program at STRIVE, which has trained “chronically unemployed New Yorkers” for 25 years. A state tax-funded training program for women only, it’s called “Career Pathways” for a good reason. Students are being trained -- not for quick placement in dead-end jobs – but for careers with good pay and a real possibility for advancement. It’s free for women 18 to 40 who are on public assistance or TANF eligible and interested in clerical, office operations, or computer technician and repair training.

The course starts with a one month-long “CORE+” classroom training to learn the basics of job readiness. Venus, Gwen and Erika sit in a roomful of women, well-dressed as they are, engaging in lively discussion of the behaviors and attitudes, knowledge and outlooks that lead not just to jobs but to careers with a future. This two-hour session is titled “The Hiring Process.” Led by STRIVE Chief Operating Officer Angelo Rivera, the women chart how experience, skills and education are qualifications that have to line up before you even go into the workforce.

This spring 92 women enrolled in the program. Of these, 50 came to the orientation. And now 38 expect to graduate from CORE+ part and move on into the skills training part of the program. That’s split into three tracks. Track A training for computer technician and Track B training for Office Operations require high school diploma or GED. Track C is Office Operations combined with GED for those lacking either GED or high school diploma. During the skills training which lasts another 4 to 6 months, students are placed in internships (which will count on their resumes as “experience”) and receive carfare and a small stipend.

Though getting HRA’s ok to go into full time training isn’t always easy, these women prove it can be done. Rivera explains “We are a HRA WEP site/training vendor -- all of the Three Track Training programs are HRA approved. In addition, all tracks require 35 hours per week and thus meet the p.a. hour requirement. The outcome is work, but we’ve been allowed to maintain participants in our training.”

STRIVE’s headquarters is at 240 East 123rd Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10035. For more information about STRIVE’s Career Pathways training, call (212) 360-1100.