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For Immediate Release
January 14, 2004 |
Contact: Karen Hinton
(703) 798-3109 |
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1000th Job Training Graduate Earns Certificate from Metro Area Nonprofit
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300 New Trainees Ready For Work & Better Paying Jobs
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Washington, DC -Community Preservation and Development Corporation, a local nonprofit that preserves affordable housing developments and provides community programs in the metro Washington, D.C. area, bestowed its 1,000th job training certificate tonight as 300 new trainees were graduated from the nine-year-old public and private partnership program.
"Awarding diplomas to 1,000 graduates is an important marker for a job training program that has helped DC, Maryland, and Virginia residents double and triple their salaries. This day is also important to those of the 300 new graduates who, as a result of this program, will have jobs for the first time," said Kathryn C. Brown, Verizon's Senior Vice President for Public Policy Development and Corporate Responsibility and the keynote speaker at CPDC's graduation ceremony at The Catholic University of America, Hartke Theatre.
Verizon is one of CPDC's corporate partners and funded the workforce-training program for the initial three years.
Attending the ceremony were friends and family members of the 300 metro area residents who have spent anywhere between eight and eighteen weeks in an intensive job training program, largely funded during the past two and a half years by a $2.5 million U.S.
Department of Labor grant and matched with $2.5 million of funds and support from partners such as Microsoft, George Washington University, Northern Virginia Community College, Verizon, and several foundations.
Michelle Woodall, 36, is the official 1,000th graduate of the program. After working at a dry cleaning establishment for ten years, she heard about CPDC's job training program from a friend. She immediately signed up, and 18 weeks later snagged a new job with higher pay and better working conditions after applying on an online job site, recommended by the training staff.
"The CPDC staff was great. They made sure you got what you came there for. The only way you didn't get it, is if you didn't apply yourself," said Woodall, who now works at the Maya Angelou Charter School in Washington, D.C. as an officer manager for $12 an hour.
In operation since 1995, this job-training program is part of an array of CPDC's community development programs dedicated to providing the necessary tools and resources so that low-to-moderate income residents and their families can improve their own lives, their careers, and their communities.
"Our program is about helping community residents find and keep good-paying jobs. Every one of the 1,000 students who has graduated from the program has a story to tell of overcoming challenges to improve their lives. Each and every one is a success story," said Albert J. Browne, CDPC Vice President and Director of Programs.
Lecester Johnson, CPDC Deputy Director of Programs, said the average salary for graduates of the program is $12.42 per hour, more than double the minimum wage of $5.15. Those trainees who already have jobs before they entered into the program normally double or triple their salaries after graduation, said Johnson.
CPDC has been a leader in providing community programs alongside its affordable housing, often in poorer, economically distressed neighborhoods. It currently offers broadband access to high-speed Internet in many of its units, technology learning centers at each of the CPDC communities, a resource network for job searches, and sophisticated on-site career assessment and computer training.
CPDC's innovative resident empowerment initiatives have been sponsored by a mix of corporate and government funding, such as Microsoft Corporation and the District of Columbia's Department of Employment Services.
CPDC also provides children and youth with after-school tutorial sessions, education and enrichment activities, and technology education with tailored programs that focus on skills development in the areas of reading, writing, math, science, and engineering.
At the ceremony, Browne also announced a new initiative in partnership with The Catholic University of America (CUA) Biomedical Department, the Clinical eStorefront. This program will bring comprehensive home health technologies service to over 290 seniors at Edgewood Terrace, a CPDC Community, in Northeast Washington, D.C. Seniors will be able to visit an on-site health clinic, Biomedical Technology Demonstration Center, equipped with monitoring technologies, to allow off-site medical professionals to evaluate their health from the Edgewood Terrace facility.
Primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Verizon, this effort will not only improve the health of the seniors living there, but also will provide an economic impact to the community. Participants in the program will receive comprehensive Home Health Technologies training as entry-level, paraprofessional health care workers, such as nursing assistants and home health aides. CDPC officials expect to train and certify an initial 40 individuals as home health technology technicians with average salaries of $30,000. Training will begin in the spring of 2005. |
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| CPDC's mission is to develop vibrant communities through innovation and partnerships. To accomplish this, CPDC creates and preserves financially sound, socially responsible affordable housing for low- and moderate-income individuals and families and, in cooperation with community residents, develops community programs that strengthen communities and increase opportunities for growth. |
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