On March 30, 2011, KRA’s Community Work Experience Program (CWEP) hosted a luncheon to show its appreciation for the collaborative support of its CWEP partners…area agencies and businesses that provide work experience opportunities for KRA’s customers receiving TANF or General Assistance program support. Through its partner organizations, the KRA/CWEP provides opportunities for customers to develop employability skills and to become re-engaged to the world of work. In addition, KRA introduced its other program, Youth Employment Success (YES), to the CWEP audience, and three YES students actually gained some wait-staff experience by working as servers. The CWEP partners expressed interest in having all the students in the YES program visit their worksites for a job shadowing experience, which is slated for May, with firm dates and sites to be scheduled in the interim. After lunch, everyone participated in a team building activity, which lead to an open discussion about the challenges these particular customers face, and which additional program-service strategies can be employed to assist them in moving forward. The luncheon was held at McGuire Gardens, one of KRA’s partners in the CWEP collaboration.
