Archives for Company News

Timmikki Brown is 37, single, and mother to a 14-year old daughter.  She had a strong work history, having been employed as an Administrative Assistant, a Lead Cook, a Home Health Aide, and a Food and Nutrition Supervisor…but was unemployed when she enrolled in KRA’s Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program in Baltimore, Maryland.  The Program, which is 12 weeks in duration, provides comprehensive Community Work Experience (CWE), occupation-specific skills training, and job-search and placement assistance for recipients of Temporary Cash Assistance benefits. CWE, 3 days a week, and Professional Development Workshops, 2 days a week, are  mandatory parts
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Recently, Gary Fletcher, Program Director for the three KRA/Resource One-Stop Career Centers in the Greater Richmond area, received a letter of commendation from Diane Wilkins, an Offender Workforce Development Specialist with the Chesterfield Women’s Detention & Diversion Center Programs, Department of Corrections (DOC), Commonwealth of Virginia.  KRA has DOC’s permission to share the letter with our readers. Attention: KRA Director, Case Managers, & Representatives We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the many services that you have provided for our probationers at the Chesterfield Women’s Detention and Diversion Center.  The women have a renewed sense
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Sometimes customers come to KRA with goals and objectives that, with dedication and perseverance, can be achieved within a few months. However, there are those jobseekers whose long-range aspirations can take years to realize.  The following story is representative of the hundreds of customers who work with KRA Career Agents, Business Services Representatives, Instructors, and other workforce services staff for a year or more to achieve their final career objectives. Robert Strong, 27 and the single parent of 6-year old Kailey, attended the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Orientation on November 28, 2011, at one of KRA’s three program offices in
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As reported previously, for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, KRA operates a Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program that provides comprehensive Community Work Experience and occupation-specific skills training for recipients of Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) benefits.  KRA also provides job-search and placement services, and when the customer has obtained and retained a job for at least 12 weeks, he/she is considered to have completed the program. KRA’s Baltimore City office opened on December 5, 2011, and 5 days later, Crisie Owens, a 29-year old single mother of a toddler, enrolled in the program.  Crisie had a high
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Our April Spotlight! is shining brightly on Kenneth Sales, a savvy KRA Business Services Team Lead working out of the Kingstree office in the Waccamaw Region of South Carolina.  Sales was a key player in a remarkable economic recovery and expansion effort concerning GSE Lining Technology (GSE), a leading manufacturer of geosynthetic lining products and services with an international presence in agriculture, aquaculture, canals, golf courses, mining, power, stormwater retention, waste containment, and wastewater markets.  Headquartered in Houston, TX, GSE has facilities in Chile, Egypt, Germany, and Thailand, with domestic plants in Houston; Spearfish, SD; and Kingstree. In August 2011,
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On March 12, 2012, we reported that Vanessa E. Atterbeary, Esq., KRA Corporate Counsel, had been selected as one of only 52 individuals to participate in the 2012 class of Leadership Maryland, an independent, educational, non-profit organization that informs top-level executives, from the public and private sectors, about the critical issues, challenges, and opportunities facing the State.  Recently, Atterbeary attended Leadership Maryland’s 2-day kick-off retreat with 51 other talented leaders from across the State.  Atterbeary reported, “The opening retreat focused on networking, identifying State-wide issues, and leadership skills.  It was so energizing!  I had been looking forward to meeting other
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As part her series, 30 Ways in 30 Days – Virginia’s Community Colleges, Amanda Christopher, Public Relations Coordinator, Virginia Community College System (VCCS), spent an entire day visiting KRA’s Whitepine One-Stop Career Center operation in Richmond, and on April 12, 2012, posted a blog on the VCCS website about her experience.  Christopher’s write-up is presented here to save our readers time in switching websites. Resource Chesterfield, the name of the Virginia Workforce One-Stop located on Whitepine Road in Chesterfield near the airport, might be one of Virginia’s best kept secrets. Serving unemployed Adult and Dislocated Worker populations (referring to workers
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Lisa Linnen, who is 49 and married with no children, had worked for more than 13 years in the lumber business as an operator of a Strapper, a machine that applies bands around stacks of lumber to hold them together.  However, on her last job she was laid off after only 2 months, due to lack of work.  Lisa, who was dreaming of a rather drastic career change, enrolled in the KRA/SCWorks Dislocated Workers Program, and was assigned to Sherell Robinson, KRA Career Agent, for case management and career guidance.  Together, they developed her long-range Individual Employment Plan, exploring and
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On December 5, 2011, Ashley Smith, who is 18 and the single parent of a young son, enrolled in the KRA Employment & Training Program, Baltimore, MD, with what can only be described as an immature and uncooperative attitude.  Ashley made it quite clear that she did not want to be in the program, and no one was going to tell her what to do.  Celeste Simmons, KRA Operations Manager, reported, “Ashley was definitely a ‘mission’ for the KRA team.  In the beginning, nothing we said or did could change her mind.  Her position was ‘I’m here because I have
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) ongoing High Growth Job Training Initiative engages business, education, and the workforce investment system in developing solutions to the challenges facing high-growth industries. Research continues to show that the Health Care industry, and 13 others, has jobs, with solid career paths, that go unfilled due to a lack of skilled workers.  The DOL/ETA initiative continues to drive KRA to target education and skills-development programs that prepare jobseekers with the skills they need to build successful careers in these growing industries. Not all regions have all 14 industries located within
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