Search Results for Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program

KRA/Baltimore City Maximizes Google Platform to Serve Customers

June 18, 2021 | No Comments

KRA customers enrolled in the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, operated for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, are required to complete KRA’s Job Readiness Program (JRP) prior to occupational-skills training and/or job-placement opportunities. Prior to March 2020, JRP workshops were conducted in person, classroom-style—not a suitable venue with the onset of pandemic-related physical-distancing requirements. However, KRA/Baltimore City remained responsible for providing JRP workshops—critical to successful career-development planning—that focus on workplace-readiness skills, e.g. resume-building, interviewing, and dressing for success and soft-skills development, e.g. worksite communications and problem-solving. Inspired by the Baltimore City School System’s virtual-learning program, Alyssa
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KRA/Baltimore City Hires WEX Program Participant

March 19, 2021 | No Comments

Christine Washington, in need of fulltime sustainable employment, enrolled in the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, operated by KRA for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. Participation included KRA’s Job Readiness Program, an integral component of which is an unpaid Work Experience (WEX) Program Internship for customers with little, no, and/or outdated work-experience histories. Ms. Washington, who was working two part-time jobs to support herself and two young sons, learned that KRA had an open WEX Housekeeping Internship, and asked to be considered for the position. Shawnda Walker, Lead Job Developer/WEX Program Supervisor, stated, “All Internships, even
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KRA Baltimore City Overcomes Physical Barriers to Service During Pandemic

February 9, 2021 | No Comments

KRA operates the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services for a revolving caseload of approximately 400 customers. Last month, in addition to having already uploaded Workforce Readiness Workshops in May 2020, for customers to access through Google Classroom, KRA began offering a Virtual Soft Skills Training Program, since traditional classroom settings, for large groups, are not feasible due to physical-distancing restrictions in Maryland. Greg Alexander, Program Manager, states, “Using Zoom allows many customers to attend ‘live’ classes that are engaging, interactive, and most of all safe, from their computers, mobile phones,
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A KRA Spotlight! Story

December 4, 2020 | No Comments

A KRA Customer’s Journey from Job Seeker to Job Developer March 2019: Shawnda Walker enrolled in the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program operated by KRA for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. During Orientation, the Operations Manager was impressed with her demeanor and professionalism, passing her resume on to the Program Manager, Greg Alexander, who needed to fill an unpaid Intern position in the Business Services Department. April 2019: KRA offered Ms. Walker the Internship, to which Mr. Alexander commented, “Not only did she ‘check all the boxes’ in meeting the position’s technical requirements, I felt her
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KRA Virtual Learning Approach to Service Delivery

November 20, 2020 | No Comments

For the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS), KRA operates the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, which provided a wide range of in-person services for a caseload of more than 400 customers—until state-mandated COVID-19 prevention measures went into effect March 17, 2020. Since many customers have little-to-no work history, or have been out of the workforce for a long time, KRA’s Workforce Readiness Workshops (WRW) are an integral component of preparing customers for sustainable employment opportunities. Gregory Alexander, Program Manager, commented, “Before COVID-19 forced us to close our office and transition staff to work-from-home, about 100 customers
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KRA Opens Second Construction Academy in Maryland

October 16, 2020 | No Comments

KRA is a licensed provider of the Home Builders Institute (HBI) award-winning PACT (Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate Training) Program, based on its proprietary National Construction Skill Standards, as well as National Association of Home Builders National Green Building Standards. On September 4, 2018, KRA opened its first Construction Academy, in Anne Arundel County, implementing PACT curriculum, which provides core skills for graduates to compete for entry-level and/or semi-skilled job opportunities across multiple specializations in the construction industry. For the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS), KRA operates the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, assisting TANF-TCA jobseekers to increase sustainable-employment
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KRA Customers Excel Through OST Partnerships

June 26, 2020 | No Comments

KRA operates the Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS), assisting TANF-benefit jobseekers through strategic collaborations with private- and public-sector organizations to create employment opportunities through Community Work Experience and Occupational Skills Training (OST) programs. To address local employers’ needs for job candidates with computer-related skills— now, and in our new-normal virtual environment—last month, MedCerts joined KRA/Baltimore City in a partnership to offer Fundamentals of IT as a blended-learning program, with graduates receiving IT certification through CompTIA. To date, KRA has enrolled 33 female and two male customers for whom MedCerts IT Specialists
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KRA Presents Workshops at NAWDP Annual Conference…Again!

May 20, 2019 | No Comments

For 30 years, the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) has supported workforce-services stakeholders to enhance and maintain their skills through continuing education, networking, and sharing ideas and experiences related to new and innovative programs and services. The KRA-NAWDP partnership is a strong and long-standing one—from providing sponsorship, presentations, and video-production services for Conferences, Forums, and Symposia, to supporting KRA staff while they share their expertise as contributors to and/or members of various Board, Committee, and pilot-program activities. KRA sponsored 24 corporate- and program-level staff members to attend the recent 2019 Annual Conference, with three senior-level employees facilitating workshops
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KRA Receives Award for BUILDing Ex-offender Community Awareness

December 12, 2016 | No Comments

Months before KRA announced its 2016 Community Care Campaign (CCC), KRA’s Baltimore City Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program—operated for the Department of Social Services—was already a designated Community Partner supporting Turnaround Tuesday (TAT), a skills-training and job-placement program for “returning citizens”. Baltimoreans United In Leadership Development (BUILD) found its efforts to attract Business Partners so successful, they had more unfilled training slots and employment opportunities than ex-offender applicants. Spearheaded by Career Agent Jermietria Carroll, for its 2016 CCC project, KRA/Baltimore targeted several high-crime zip codes and distributed TAT flyers for an Ex-Offender Expo, expanding awareness of the services available
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KRA Supports Non-Traditional Career Opportunities for Women

August 22, 2016 | No Comments

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics’ figures, on a national level, women comprise less than 8% percent of Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics, an industry sector where the median wage is $45,240 in Maryland, and the occupational outlook extremely strong. Recently, supporting a demonstration-grant award to a community partner, KRA’s Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, funded by the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, provided facilities and staff to augment our partner’s recruitment, screening, and referral processes for an Automotive Services Training Program. One hundred percent of the KRA/Baltimore candidates…almost one-third of whom were women…completed the NCIA
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