By Luther Turmelle, New Haven Register, September 22, 2014
NEW HAVEN >> Connecticut officials are hoping that $3.6 million in state money will replicate across the entire state the success that a Bridgeport-based job training group has achieved in Fairfield County since 2011 helping the long-term unemployed find work.
The latest edition of The WorkPlace’s Platform to Employment launched last week in Bridgeport and kicked off this week in Waterbury, New Haven and New London. The class of 23 long-term unemployed individuals in New Haven is meeting at Powerhouse Building on Grand Avenue in the city’s Fair Haven section.
The goal of the program is to put 500 long-term unemployed people back to work. The classes being launched last week and on Monday have 125 participants, according to program organizers.
The state money allows Platform to Employment to cover the salaries of the trainees for eight weeks with potential employers, said Tom Long, vice president of communications for The Workplace. That portion comes after five weeks of training that was launched in New Haven on Monday.
“It allows the employer to see if our people are a good fit in their workplace,” Long said. “Employers are under no obligation to hire them. But we’ve found that once we get people into that segment of the program, we have a 90 percent success rate at getting them permanent jobs.”
Before the state funding came along, The WorkPlace did fundraising on its own, which allowed it to conduct 9 classes in Fairfield County over the past 3½ years, said Joseph Carbone, president and chief executive officer of the organization.
The first part of the training program involves career evaluation and interest assessment of the participants, as well as skills testing and individualized career coaching. It also includes a component with counselors who focus on the self-worth of the people in the class, Carbone said.
“This recession saw a structural change and the resulting long-term unemployment has zapped the self-confindence right out of people,” he said.
Count Richard Walter among the discouraged. The New Haven resident lost his job as a district supervisor for a retailer a year ago.
“It has gotten very bad,” Walter said, explaining he has sent out 75 resumes over the past year and only landed four interviews. “You lose confidence and feel like it’s your fault that you’re not able to find a job anymore.”
Mike Morgan, director of the Platform to Employment program, reminded those in the class to take their training seriously.
“It’s a full time job, looking for work,” Morgan said. “We understand if you can’t make a class because you have a job interview. What we’re looking for are inconsistencies: Consistently showing up late or missing classes without notifying someone.”
Article source: http://www.nhregister.com/business/20140922/funding-aims-to-bolster-connecticut-job-training-program