Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico launches EMPower workforce dev’t program
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico announced the launching of EMPower, a workforce development program that seeks to improve the economic security and the quality of life of the residents of the communities it serves.
The goal is to provide training and opportunities for professional development, along with the social and soft skills necessary to search for and maintain jobs in the local labor market in the fields of hospitality, customer service, Java Development, IT and digital marketing, nonprofit officials said.
EMPower seeks to benefit unemployed, low-income young adults between the ages of 18-35 living in the communities surrounding the organization’s facilities.
Community residents including family members of BGCPR and Vimenti participants, women, members of the LGBTT community, and individuals who meet the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 3 criteria are encouraged to join the free workshops that will be offered in a hybrid format (in-person and virtual) during daytime hours.
“The workforce training program is an expansion of the employability project that Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico began in 2018 as part of the two-generation approach implemented by Vimenti to reduce systematic poverty through three programmatic areas: educational, social and economic,” said Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico President Olga Ramos-Carrasquillo.
“The program began by benefitting the parents of the students of Vimenti School, located in the Ernesto Ramos Antonini Public Housing Complex and has been successful, reducing unemployment from 42% to 16% during the first year of implementation,” she said.
The program will reach 27 municipalities on the island through eight Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico facilities and Vimenti and will serve more than 1,200 participants during its first years, she added.
“For EMPower to be successful, a staff of more than 35 professionals specializing in mentoring, placement, technology, English and administration is being recruited. During the first three years, funding comes from the Housing Department of under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-DR) Program,” said Ramos-Carrasquillo.
All eligible community residents Interested in applying are invited to submit their information through the Vimenti link, in the “Employability Program” page.
