One Stop Career to head recruitment efforts in Puerto Rico
Nonprofit One Stop Career Center of Puerto Rico, one of the nearly 300 community-based organizations affiliated with UnidosUS, will be leading recruitment and training efforts for labor in the construction and aerospace industries on the island.
Acting Executive Director of UnidosUS Sonia M. Pérez made the announcement last week at the “2022 UnidosUS Workforce Development Summit” event.
“We’re very committed to this initiative, established with a historic federal grant to our organization and with the participation of two UnidosUS affiliates,” said Pérez, who is also director of operations of UnidosUS.
“In both cases, it is expected that over the next four years, the initiative will contribute to the retraining and recruitment of labor for these two industries on the island. They are jobs that will offer very good pay,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Executive director of One Stop Career, Carmen Cosme, stressed the importance of involving several components that are essential for the development of the program to achieve its goal.
“The integration of academia, the contribution of employers, and the support of the government and nonprofit organizations are vital for us to reinforce and redouble our efforts to develop a solid workforce in Puerto Rico,” she said.
The program seeks to break down the multiple barriers faced by thousands of workers when looking for a job: academic lag, credit, and financial problems among others.
The initiative also seeks to focus assistance on residents of rural areas who have less access to employment opportunities and a greater need for training.
The project’s goal is to influence the labor ecosystem through a collaboration among the private sector, academia, government, and nonprofit organizations that will form part of an advisory group at the local and national level for the “Advancing 2 Good Jobs” initiative.
The grant is part of the US Department of Commerce’s “Good Jobs” program, which will distribute some $500 million to 32 nonprofit organizations out of 509 that submitted workforce training proposals.
