Just in: Employment Training Results

[Just now I received the following report on the employment progress made by our most reent graduates from our "Build4Success" construction training program.  I must say, it is very gratifying! LJ]

 

Team-

On Wednesday, May 7^,  15 students graduated from the Build4Success training.  The goals for the class: enrollment 18; graduate 15 (80% of 18); placement 13 (85% of 15). The placement update is as follows:

6-employed by CLP/TrueBlue--they started on May 14^th at $12.00 per hour

2-left the program early for employment, one is employed by Garden Ridge Distribution Center at $9.50 per hour; one is employed by On Stage at $11.00 per hour

1-is waiting for the Clinic to perform his Department of Transportation (DOT)  physical for a truck driving job. We will provide you with salary as soon as he is processed.

4 more placements are need by the end of July to meet OAI requirements for funding for 2013-2014. We are very optimistic that in the next 30 days the other 4 will be employed.

These are awesome numbers for the week after graduation. Daniel and Joe worked as a team and did an outstanding job assisting the graduates with placement assistance. If you have any questions please let me know

 Patricia Smith-Harrington

Director
WorkPaths
CitySquare

WorkPaths: Path2Success

Opportunity Center way "in the dry"

Overwhelmed!

Visiting "the Corner" becomes addictive.

I've asked myself why that is the case.

Today, I believe I found my answer:  raw, human need and desperation coupled with complete honesty, appreciation and love.

The number of men and women with whom I visited today overwhelmed me.

I noticed a common theme again in their requests of me:

"Where can I find work?"  

"Where can I find a place to live?"  

"May I have a bag of chips?" 

"May I have a bottle of water?"

Two other almost universal observations:

Everyone took pride in their attire.  One man apologized incessantly about how dirty his clothes were.  And, he was careful to explain why.  I mean, on the street and concerned for one's appearance. All of us want to do the best we can, don't we?

Everyone was glad to see me.  

"Man, where you been?" was a common question, as I've been out of place the last two weeks.

"Man, the new place is lookin' good!  When will it open?" people observed the Opportunity Center across the street.

I returned to my office for a meeting and a conference call wrung out with the emotion of the people, the people who call me to cut through the stupid, ill-informed barriers to a better way of responding to such overwhelming human need.

The touch, the words, the embraces, the smiles, the fist bumps of the people set me to dreaming about our next steps.

We need a business plan to start a company that employs these friends of mine.  There is a wealth of ability, energy and resting capacity on this corner that needs to be unleashed in honest labor.

Stay tuned.

The world can change. 

Photo Update

Here are latest photos of CitySquare's new Opportunity Center!

Wages, families, neighborhoods and the economy

At the beginning of this school year, students from the Honors College at Abilene Christian University began their very special three year course of study that will see them focus as a group on poverty in inner city Dallas.

Already my young friends have turned up ugly evidence of what affects our economy so adversely.  These bright students discovered that in several South Dallas zip codes the average household income hovers around $10,000 annually.  Hard to imagine isn't it?

If you and/or your family had to make do with $10,000 a year, what sorts of things would impinge on your life, your decisions, your attitudes and your expectations?  Hard, but very good and fair questions for those of us who are doing so much better to ask and answer honestly.

The Dallas Morning News published a story last Sunday (9/23/2012, 4B) on a group of Wal-Mart workers who have organized against the pay practices and scale of the company's wages.  The group, Organization United for Respect at Walmart, demonstrated in Dallas' Uptown neighborhood the day before the report hit the paper.  Protesters claimed that Wal-Mart didn't pay them enough to purchase the health care plan offered by the company or to participate in the 401 (k) benefit plan.

According to Wal-Mart, the average pay to its employees in Texas is $12.31 an hour.  According to the union, the company's average hourly wage for the nation stands at $8.81.

If the company is correct about its Texas employees, a person working a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job and paid for 52 weeks (both unlikely assumptions) will earn $25,605 annually.

If the union is correct and making the same assumptions, a Wal-Mart employee will earn $18,325 annually.

What is life like for households living on wages at this level?  

How do marriages fair?

What health issues do these families face?

How is the psychological health of these wage earners?

What are neighborhoods like for communities who earn wages at this level?  

How do wages affect housing stock?

Public schools?

Code enforcement and neighborhood amenities?

What  impact do wages at this level have on local economies and on economic development?

What factors are at work here to encourage or discourage the development of retail outlets?

How is job growth in these areas?  

The realities of capitalism force on us tough questions about how we might make changes to help our working poor neighbors  These realities make a strong case for the expansion of public efforts such as the Earned Income Tax Credit program.  They also argue persuasively for increased investment in public education, early childhood programs and workforce training initiatives to enhance and diversify the skills of our labor force.

Things will not improve unless we get involved and begin to insist on the needed changes.

More vertical progress (reprise)

CitySquare's new Opportunity Center is exploding out of the ground, literally! It's fun watching the progress while visiting with neighbors who stay in the area. The new center will focus on employment. At the same time, the project has provided jobs for scores of workers.

Drop by the project at Malcolm X Blvd. and I-30 to see the progress.

Opportunity Center Update: Going Vertical!

Scenes of progress and vertical construction at CitySquare's new Opportunity Center! 

Aerial photos capture Opportunity Center Progress!

Workforce Training and CitySquare

Here are scenes from the DFW Education Center where CitySquare partners with Northlake College and the Construction Education Foundation to offer our WorkPaths training program.  The 16-week instruction exposes students to every aspect of construction trades, including framing, floor and roof systems, H/VAC, plumbing, electrical, welding, OSHA, forklift operations, and much more! 

A very high percentage of our students graduate, and over 70% find employment and remain employed 6 months out from course completion.  Currently, 20 students are working through this very beneficial course!  We're extremely proud of each of them!

What a phenomenal resource we have in the DFW Education Center.  The multi-million dollar facility provides amazing options and opportunities for the students we recruit to the program and with whom we work on a daily basis. 

COMMIT!

What follows describes Commit!, a new coalition of Dallas County stakeholders interested in improving public education in our community. Well worth your time to have a look. CitySquare is proud to be a supporter and involved.


Commit!

Our Mission

Commit! is a partnership of Dallas area stakeholders highly committed to the transformative power of education who are working together to ensure that all students graduate and succeed in college and/or the global work force.

The Need

Dallas County currently educates over 550,000 children in Grades K-12 across 16 different public school districts and 80 different public charter schools.

There are another 200,000+ children from ages 0-5 who receive a broad variety of early childhood services, ranging from an excellent Pre-K education to none at all.

Dallas County also houses numerous two-year and four-year higher education institutions, both public and private, which provide post-secondary education to over 100,000 students annually.

These 850,000 students, of which almost 70% are economically disadvantaged, are further supported by 300+ separate non-profits focused on a variety of areas, including but not limited to in-school, after school and summer school programs, mentoring, tutoring, literacy and college access. Each organization has their own strategic plan and often their own unique way of measuring success.

Commit!’s purpose is simple but ambitious….to help coordinate and align the various strategic plans found at each of these institutions toward a set of common, measurable goals adopted by the community as vitally important.

• Kindergarten readiness.
• Graduation from high school with 21st century skills.
• College and/or work force success.

The challenge is urgent. The need is great. Won’t you commit to join us?

“It’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.”

Visit Commit! website here.  Join the movement today!

Work--Part 2

This is the second in a 3-part series about participants in CitySquare's Build4Success hard skills, construction training program. 

Michael McCall – Michael was in the Build4Success class with Sam (see previous post on 3-25-2011). They became friends during the training and have remained good friends since then. Michael was a leader in the class and was quick to help his fellow classmates if they were struggling with any course work. He even tutored some in math. A few months after completing training, Michael went to work for Humphrey & Associates electrical contractors and is now in his second year of electrical apprenticeship at CEF. After he had been on the job for a few months, Michael had saved enough to purchase a new truck; he called me and asked me if I thought it would be ok if he gave his old car to Sam (Griffin). He said it wasn’t much of a car but it was better than none and maybe Sam could use it as a stepping stone into a better vehicle. I told him that would be between them but wanted him to make sure he transferred the title and did all the paperwork, he did. (This car helped Sam get into his truck – longer story on this than I want to write here). After Sam’s shooting, Michael has continued to prove to be the kind of friend all of us hope to be. He picks up Sam for dinner occasionally and is there to help Sam however he can. Michael also participated in tryouts as an evaluator this last time with Sam.