Employable for the Long Term
With the help of a grant from The Community Foundation, STRIVE New Haven is focusing on creating long-term employment success for its graduates.
With the help of a grant from The Community Foundation, STRIVE New Haven is focusing on creating long-term employment success for its graduates. A recent report from STRIVE indicated that nearly 75% of graduates from its three week employability skills training were able to secure employment in better than minimum-wage jobs. After three months, 89% were with the same employer.
The Community Foundation's support also proved helpful as STRIVE New Haven completed its merger with Career Resources Inc., resulting in an overall improvement in data and client management.
The improved work is reflected in the success of STRIVE's graduates, says Program Manager Kendrick Baker. "To quote Theodore Roosevelt, 'People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.'"
STRIVE's focus does not end when an individual graduates and finds a job. Support continues with in-house case management and a robust network of service providers, assisting with basic needs and social services. A highlight from STRIVE's grant report featured an unemployed and homeless single mother who was able to find a job and an apartment, start attending classes and make plans for continuing her education. She is now a STRIVE volunteer and success story.
STRIVE is a participating grantee organization in the Greater New Haven Partnership for Economic Opportunity (PEO). The PEO is a partnership between three funders: The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, The United Way of Greater New Haven and Annie E. Casey Foundation. Each quarter, the PEO convenes a group of grant recipients providing services in the area of workforce development and economic success and requires that grantees report and share data on a set of common and agreed upon performance measures.
"The PEO allows us, as funders, to work with nonprofit grantees to examine our collective impact on an issue and also gives us valuable knowledge and insight as to the challenges and gaps in this work," says Christina Ciociola, senior vice president for Grantmaking & Strategy at The Community Foundation. "The Partnership provides capacity building to the nonprofits around outcomes, data collection and sharpening their own strategies and it's an opportunity to work in collaboration with other funders for maximum impact."
