Monthly Archives December 2011

On December 8, 2011, Anita Davis, KRA Program Manager, and Kia Watkins, KRA Career Agent, attended their first meeting, as members of the Camden (NJ) Youth Council, at City Hall. The Council’s role is to assist in executing the youth mission of the Mayor, Dana Reed, a strategic part of which is to solicit input from all providers of youth services in Camden, and to have them join the Council and participate in the activities of the 12 Council Committees. Ms. Davis reported, “The invitation to join the Council came from Mr. A.D. Lingo, Council Co-Chair, and Ms. Watkins and I
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Knowlton R. Atterbeary, President & CEO, and Don Scott, Senior Vice President for Workforce Operations, recently attended the 10th Annual National Workforce Association (NWA) Legislative Leadership Conference, of which KRA was a major sponsor.  Mr. Atterbeary stated, “This year’s theme, Working With Congress We Can Make a Difference, was a timely one as, right now, it is imperative that Congress focus on skills training and job creation to reduce our staggering unemployment rate, and to boost economic recovery.  Mr. Scott added, “For example, in October, right after Obama’s American Jobs Act was blocked, Senator Blumenthal held a press conference at
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On December 2, 2011, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Connecticut job seekers, workforce officials, and CT state Department of Labor officials at the KRA/CTWorks office in New Britain and delivered an impassioned call-to-action for his colleagues in Congress to extend UI (Unemployment Insurance) benefits…set to expire before the New Year…for unemployed workers.  Authorization for the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program and full federal funding of the Extended Benefits program will expire on December 31, 2011, causing benefits to run out for thousands of families and individuals struggling to find work in the state. In Connecticut, there are 102,000 individuals
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KRA’s Camden, New Jersey, operation, which provides community work experience, educational preparation, and occupational skills training for Out-of-School Youth and TANF and General Assistance populations, has initiated a Pantry Points Program.  A KRA innovation, first introduced for the Connecticut CTWorks program in January 2010, the Pantry is an incentive program, i.e., Camden customers who meet their program plan requirements can earn points and redeem them at the Pantry for a wide variety of personal and household products, such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo, dishwashing liquid, and many other everyday necessities.  Karen Darby, KRA Career Agent, stated, “The Pantry has only been
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On November 28, 2011, branch staff from the neighborhood TD Bank conducted a Smart Banking workshop with KRA’s Camden, New Jersey, Out-of-School Youth (OSY), TANF, and General Assistance program participants. All participating customers were invited to open accounts on-the-spot, and to learn about effectively managing their accounts. OSY program participants, who attended the workshop as part of their Life Skills classes on Financial Management, were really excited about the presentation.  Navi Perez, KRA Job Developer, stated, “Several youth are interns and receive stipends twice a month. An account with TD Bank allows them to deposit their hard-earned checks and to
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