From our Community Jobs Training Manager:
- In 2023, we have had 18 trainees work with us, including 5 who continued from the previous year. That means we took on 13 NEW trainees in 2023. Of these 18 total participants:
- 10 either found full-time jobs or enrolled in a full-time vocational school program.
- 4 were participating in short-term work assessments and are still working with their job coach in a work training program.
- 3 participants are still working here.
- 1 participant did not find a career by the end of her program, but she did accomplish an impressive amount of work and grew into a leadership role on the team.
- This means that 14 out of 15 participants who completed their work contract with us have found a job or enrolled in a full-time vocational program, which is a greater than 90% success rate!!! For reference, we have typically estimated an 80% success rate, so this is significant growth.
- All trainees working here in 2023 have a combined total of 2,379.78 hours
- Each trainee has received an average of 170 hours of coaching time while working here – this includes training in soft and hard job skills, as well as practice gaining comfort in a public retail setting.
- In addition to this, we had 9 other participants work as volunteers and interns in 2023, which has been valuable in building our connections with the community as well as local universities such as WWU, WCC, and BTC.
- 3 of our participants who had received multiple extensions ended up finding full-time work during or shortly after completing their work program here; each of these three participants had a number of incredible talents, but required a bit of extra time for them to fine-tune their job skills. By providing these extensions, they were able to expand their knowledge base and attain full-time employment.
We have had some great team members come and go via the CJTP, so the success of everybody mentioned above comes as no surprise at all. Still, it shows how much energy we invest in making this unique and valuable program work. And it shows — there is a good reason that job coaches have often reported that a lot of participants have already heard about us and want to come work here!
To help us reach our goal in lowering barriers to employment in Bellingham by providing paid, on-site job training to economically disadvantaged members of our community, you can visit our donation page, tell your friends, and share our story!