On March 24, 2011, the Greater Hartford area KRA/CTWorks offices celebrated National Workforce Day of Action with visits from both Federal and State legislative delegations. Congressman Christopher Murphy, 5th Congressional District Representative, and Glenn Marshall, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor, visited KRA’s New Britain CTWorks office and heard first-hand testimonials from current and former program participants about the services they received, and how those services led directly to their employment and/or training success.  Two local employers in attendance spoke about how vital the One-Stop Centers are to the growth of their companies, due to the well-qualified applicants that
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On March 21, 2011, Martin D. Brown, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS), sent an email to all “Social Services Staff”, which includes KRA staff who manage and operate the VIEW (Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare) program, with a subject line of “Bracketology and the VDSS Sweet 15.”  In recent years, the concept of bracketology has been applied to areas outside of basketball…and this is what prompted the Commissioner to create the department’s own version of bracketology…the “VDSS Sweet 15.”  An obvious fan of college basketball, Commissioner Brown noted that two of Virginia’s finest…University of Richmond
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On March 14, 2011, KRA/CTWorks’ Valerie Crinejo, JFES (Jobs First Employment Service) Career Agent, attended a local Town Hall Meeting, one of a series of public gatherings convened by Governor Daniel Malloy to discuss budget issues, and to get feedback from Connecticut citizens. Crinejo took the floor to highlight for the Governor and his staff KRA/CTWorks’ unparalled workforce development success, especially its program participation rate, throughout the North Central Region.  Crinejo spoke of the valuable work and dedicated commitment of all the staff at the CTWorks offices, and stressed that several critical factors…such as “does the training program really work”…need consideration when
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On March 3, 2011, KRA/CTWorks’ Courtney Juday, WIA (Workforce Investment Act) Career Agent and Charles Botts III, Lead Job Developer, presented the “Coach Approach” at the New England National Association of Workforce Developers Conference at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Developed by Joseph Seymour, KRA Re-employment Coach, the Coach Approach was presented through a highly engaging and educational workshop that aimed to empower Case Managers and other Workforce Development Professionals to become “great” coaches for their clients. Juday and Botts stressed four key components to becoming a great coach: 1) How to conduct a “Customer Strength
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On March 15, 2011, Career Agent, Nevaughan Moulds, shared with the KRA Youth Employability & Success students at Bayside and Green Run High Schools how, when she was growing up, African American kids never dreamed of, let alone talked about, becoming President of the United States; it was an impossible aspiration. Now, with our first African American President, she told them “anything is possible”…but you need more than just educational, vocational, or technical preparation. She then led the discussion in the direction of “diversity” and its presence…and importance…in the workplace. Mrs. Moulds stressed that whether you are the target…or perpetrator…of discrimination, one must
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“Mr. O”, a Youth Employability & Success program participant and Lake Taylor High School senior, has a passion…and talent!…for photography. From February 7th to the 11th, his work was displayed at the Hampton Roads Student Gallery in the d’Art Center. In addition, he was won several awards and prizes, including “Most Valuable Picture” bestowed by the Norfolk Public Schools (NPS) system, as well as a 2nd place recognition for black-and-white photography last year fromthe NPS. Most recently, Mr. O put his passion to work for a charitable event held at Norfolk State University where he donated several photographs to the local
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Fifteen Youth Employment Success (YES) program participants have been visiting museums to assist them in linking theories, learned in their YES classes, to real-world practices. On February 10, 2011, they visited the Academy of Natural Sciences and on February 25, 2011, The Franklin Institute, both of which are in Philadelphia, PA.  For some students, these trips represented their first time going to “Philly”, and a few expressed a little anxiety about taking the train from Camden across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. However, in the end, excitement overcame treidation and all the students thoroughly enjoyed the trips, museum exhibits, and the
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