Posts by Marcie Dingle

KRA/Waccamaw Sponsors Youth Leadership Academy

April 8, 2013 | No Comments

On January 8, 2013, Rusty Gaskins, KRA Business Services Representative, sent a message to Knowlton R. Atterbeary, KRA President & CEO, which read, in part: “Mr. Atterbeary, I am serving on the Procurement Committee for Youth Leadership Academy (YLA), an event that recognizes more than 425 high school sophomores for their dedication to leadership within their schools and communities. On March 11, 2013, on the campus of Coastal Carolina University [CCU], YLA will convene its 6th annual event, with a theme of Expand Your W.O.R.L.D – Wrestling Over Responsible Leadership Decisions. The students, representing 45 schools in 9 counties, including
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Chamber of Commerce Honors KRA

April 1, 2013 | No Comments

The Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce is currently featuring KRA on the Homepage of its website in its Member Spotlight. As the operator of the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, funded by the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, KRA works every day, with businesses and other community partners, to offer Baltimore City jobseeker-customers, who receive TCA (Temporary Cash Assistance) benefits, a wide range of workforce development services. As an integral part of the Baltimore City community, KRA provides intensive job-readiness/placement services including assessment, Community Work Experience, training, and job development. The Program also provides occupation-specific skills training, to benefit
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KRA Monthly Spotlight!

March 29, 2013 | No Comments

This month, the Spotlight! is shining on the three SCWorks Career Centers in the Waccamaw Region of South Carolina, which are funded by the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments, and operated and managed by KRA. This WIA (Workforce Investment Act) program for Adult/Dislocated Workers and In-School/Out-of-School Youth (ISY/OSY)* encompasses a tri-county area and provides comprehensive workforce services for Regional jobseeker-and employer-customers. For jobseekers, services include interest, aptitude, and personality assessment; development of Individual Employment Plans; skills upgrading through occupational training and OJTs; career coaching, counseling, and guidance; instructional job search technique workshops; job referral, placement and retention services; special supportive services, as
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KRA/Waccamaw and Partners Host Successful Job Fair

March 25, 2013 | No Comments

Last year, KRA/SCWorks*, Goodwill Industries of Lower South Carolina, and the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce hosted a Job Fair to benefit un- and under-employed community residents in the Waccamaw Region of South Carolina. According to Rusty Gaskins, KRA Business Services Representative (BSR), who served on the Planning Committee, “Our 2012 Job Fair partnership effort was so successful that we decided to co-host another, which we did on February 28th at the Myrtle Beach Mall. The Job Fair took about 9 months to plan, and for KRA was truly a team effort. In addition to soliciting employers and jobseekers
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KRA/SCWorks Youth Attend Symposium

March 25, 2013 | No Comments

Nineteen young customers, from the KRA/SCWorks One-Stop Career Center in the Lower Savannah Region of South Carolina, accompanied Jahkesha Abraham, KRA Program Manager, and Evelyn Stanley, KRA Career Agent, to a Youth Symposium, hosted by staff of the Lower Savannah Workforce Development Board (LSWDB); the LSWDB Youth Council; and Voorhees College, Symposium site. On Friday and Saturday, March 15th and 16th, transported by bus service supplied by the Williams Chapel AME Church of Orangeburg, the group arrived in Denmark in time for the start of each day’s workshops, enjoyed lunch and comraderie, and returned to the KRA/SCWorks’ Orangeburg office a little after
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KRA/SCWorks Outreach to Non-Graduates

March 25, 2013 | No Comments

Jahkesha Abraham, KRA Program Manager, SCWorks One-Stop Career Center in the Lower Savannah Region of South Carolina, is always looking for ways to better serve the Region’s young people, especially those Out-of-School Youth (OSY) who did not complete high school, and need educational, training and/or job-placement assistance. Recently, she contacted the Guidance Counselors at Branchville Lockett, Calhoun County, Edisto, Lake Marion, and Orangeburg Wilkinson High Schools, as well as the Bethune-Bowman Middle High School, to provide them with information about the KRA/SCWorks OSY Program, including services available and the registration process. Quickly, word spread from one Counselor to another that the Program
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KRA Staff/Students Support Local Habitat for Humanity

March 18, 2013 | No Comments

The planning process for the Youth Employability & Success (YES) Community Service Program began last December. According to Jahkesha Abraham, KRA Program Manager, SCWorks’ in Lower Savannah, SC, “We wanted to enhance our youth program by adding a permanent component that would fulfill one of the YES Program Elements, which is to provide leadership development opportunities that include community service and peer-centered activities to encourage responsibility and other positive social behaviors.” Abraham continued, “Evelyn Stanley, one of our KRA Career Agents, contacted four community agencies… Cooperative Church Ministries of Orangeburg, the Habitat for Humanity Store, the Orangeburg Goodwill, and Edisto Habitat for
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The KRA Career Agent-Customer Connection

March 11, 2013 | No Comments

For the past few months, KRA Corporation’s other News venue, the Monthly Spotlight!, featured a series of articles on the Power of Partnership. Several KRA/partner relationships were highlighted…those with businesses, civic organizations, colleges/universities, community agencies, etc. However the one partnership not addressed…is the one between a KRA Career Agent and a KRA jobseeker-customer. This special relationship, forged sometimes with more than one Career Agent, can last 5 weeks, 5 months, or even 5 years…however long it takes for a customer to get onto the right career path. Gloria Gil McKeown, 46 and married with one step-son, immigrated to the USA from
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KRA/CTWorks’ Staff "Empowered for Success"

March 4, 2013 | No Comments

On February 12th, KRA/CTWorks’ staff began the day with a “meet and greet”, giving a warm Connecticut welcome to guests and speakers invited to participate in Empowered for Success, the focus of a full day devoted to staff development and training. According to Jerry Santostefano, Customer Service Representative, “These training days are held twice a year and are a welcome activity, are always fun and informational, and a great way to spend time with other staff that we do not see that often, as we work out of four different offices here in the North Central Region.” Based upon a staff survey conducted
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4th Annual KRA Community Care Day “Supports Our Troops”

March 3, 2013 | No Comments

“‘Developing Workers. Strengthening Communities.’ is so much more than a corporate ‘tagline’ reports Tiffany Haynes, Lead Instructor, KRA/VIEW (Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare) Program. It is the very heart of KRA’s mission, and our annual Community Care Day Campaign reflects the true essence of KRA…a belief that ‘strengthening communities’ goes far beyond ‘developing workers’. We help to make our communities stronger in many other ways, in that local KRA sites support their communities all year long…raising awareness and/or money for many non-profit causes and organizations. However, once a year, we coalesce our energy and support as one company focused on one cause…and that is the
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