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by Rachel Simon

Northern Virginia Family Service – Inside Scoop

(Dec. 3, 2018) Catherine Read interviews several members of the Northern Virginia Family Service leadership team to talk about the wide array of services that they deliver to families throughout the region. For the past 95 years, NVFS has delivered support to the most vulnerable families in Northern Virginia. The organization was recently selected by Jeff and McKenzie Bezos to be a recipient of a $2.5 million grant from their Day 1 Families Fund to help end family homelessness in our region.

NVFS Programs

In the first segment, Catherine speaks with Andrea Eck, Executive Vice President of Programs at NVFS.   Andrea points out that the programs offered to families range from workforce training to housing assistance to hunger relief to early childhood development and support. The unique thing about NVFS is that all of their programs are integrated with one another, and are designed to support the families they serve in a holistic manner, with the goal of moving the family toward self-sufficiency.

Eck notes that NVFS works collaboratively with partners throughout the region to help deliver necessary services, so that resources can be used wisely and efforts are not duplicated. She is confident that their excellent track record is what led to the grant from the Day 1 Families Fund. The grant money will be used to fight family homelessness in Northern Virginia. Specifically, they will be enhancing their housing locator service, improving their career navigation center, and enhancing the availability of mental health services in order to get people healthy so that they can support themselves and contribute to society.

Multi-Cultural Center and Youth Initiatives

Andrea Eck NVFSIn the second segment Catherine talks to Meredith McKeen, Director of the Multi-Cultural Center and Youth Initiatives. On the multi-cultural center side, her job is to oversee the array of services designed to help people recover from exposure to trauma and violence. Her department utilizes case management to navigate the issues, and services are delivered in 7 different languages to meet the needs of the community. Many families have suffered trauma throughout the immigration process, and McKeen’s department is designed to assist families with immigration legal aid, as well as assist them in finding the support services that they need within the community.

Under the youth umbrella, NVFS runs a gang prevention program to help keep kids safe and out of trouble. Additionally, for young people who have witnessed or been exposed to violence, her department is tasked with helping them find and access mental health services. Getting young people access to these critical programs is so important, because the sooner they can deal with the trauma that they have experienced, the sooner they can get back to school and be able to move their lives forward.

Another important aspect of McKeen’s department is the family reunification program. Many times, immigrant families are separated from one another for many years, with some parents being separated from their children for up to a decade. Reunification is always the goal, but with it comes its own set of challenges. First off, parents and children need to get to know one another again. Additionally, the children may have endured an arduous journey to make it to America, and they may have residual trauma from their travels. This program is aimed to get ahead of these challenges and address issues up front in order to keep everyone safe. It has been shown to help avoid child abuse, future foster care placement and potential mental health problems down the road. It is an investment in the family today that can have a lasting impact into the future. Families are resilient, but they need the right tools in order to be healthy and happy.

Workforce Development

In the third segment of the show Catherine speaks with Julie Mullen, Director of Workforce Development about how NVFS is working toward customized career training for its clients. This new approach is aimed at helping their clients identify their goals, attain the necessary skills and ultimately find a sustainable wage job. The One on One Navigator program is one of the areas that will greatly benefit from the grant give by the Day 1 Families Fund. A job with sustainable wages is the best way to keep a family out of homelessness, so this program will be critical to meeting their goals.

The One on One program will allow career counselors to help clients tap into their talents, then connect them with the partners in the community who can help them build the skills that they need to succeed. Money from the grant will be able to help pay for certifications or English classes, even assist with the costs of opening a new business like an in-home childcare center. The career navigators can assist with understanding the regulations and the paperwork needed to get a business started. Removing these barriers and hurdles are critical to helping clients move forward.

This winter NVFS is launching their “Team Up” imitative in the hospitality, manufacturing and healthcare space. They will be co-locating in space with their business partners to help deliver services and make sure that workers have the tools that they need to be successful and productive. For example, now that Medicaid has expanded in Virginia, NVFS will have people available to help workers understand that they are eligible for benefits, and assist them in learning how to apply.

Health Access and Nutrition Services

In the final segment of the show, Catherine interviews Ondrea McIntyre-Hall, Director of Health Access and Nutrition Services at NVFS. Her department oversees the Hunger Resource Center, located in Prince William County. The center serves 600-700 families a month, and processes approximately 3.3 million pounds of food a year. There is a growing community of food insecure families in our region, and NVFS is looking at creative ways to help stem the tide of hunger by providing food support and nutrition services. Their resource center includes cooking classes and demonstrations, in order to teach families how to make the best use of the ingredients that they have access to.   Additionally, there is no limit on the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that families can take when visiting their facility.

Thanks to generous donations from local farmers markets, grocery stores and the USDA the Hunger Resource Center receives a great deal of fresh, perishable food.   Therefore, they partner with other smaller food pantries in the area so that the food can get better distributed in a timely manner. Many families cannot access the center in Prince William, so this gives the smaller, more local pantries an opportunity to get fresh fruit and vegetables distributed to their clients.

Currently, NVFS is launching an exciting pilot program with Mason and Partners (through George Mason University) that will give clients a “prescription card” for certain fruits and vegetables that clients need to maintain their health. Clients will then be able to redeems these cards at participating vendors – food pantries, Farmer’s Markets, stores where the cards are accepted. This innovative approach to providing access to fresh fruits and vegetables recognizes that what we eat can greatly contribute to supporting a healthy lifestyle.

Filed Under: Children, Healthcare, Inside Scoop, TV Shows, Virginia, Workforce Development Tagged With: Andrea Eck, Day 1 Families Fund, family reunification, gang prevention program, George Mason University, Hunger Resource Center, Julie Mullen, Mason and Partners, Meredith McKeen, Northern Virginia Family Service, NVFS, Ondrea McIntyre-Hall, One on One Navigator Program, workforce development

by Catherine Read

Workforce Development Through SkillSource – Deb Stopak

(Nov 22, 2017) Catherine Read talks with Deb Stopak, Director of Advancement for SkillSource. Established in 2003, SkillSource is the non-profit fiscal agent for the Northern Virginia Workforce Development Board (NVWDB.) There are 15 Workforce Development areas in Virginia, and SkillSource serves Area 11 which covers Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudoun County and the cities of Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas and Manassas Park. There are currently six SkillSource One-Stop Employment Centers in Annandale, Alexandria, Reston, Leesburg, Woodbridge and on the Manassas Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

SkillSource provides services to both employers and job seekers completely free of charge. They have worked with tens of thousands of employers since opening their doors, providing services to more than a million job seekers. In FY 2017, SkillSource served 55,000 job seekers in Northern Virginia.

In 1988, Congress passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), a Federal job training program sponsored by the Department of Labor. Through a network of One Stop Centers, WIOA offers employers and job seekers, universal access to free employment and training services. Private foundations also provide funds that support the centers. The team approach includes both job developers and case managers. Additionally, SkillSource works closely with the Department of Family Services in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties to provide other services that are often needed when people are without a job: housing, transportation, childcare and treatment programs.

SkillSource Deb StopakWithin the larger geographic community, SkillSource supports micro-populations of job seekers that often have difficulty finding employment. They include out-of-school youth aged 17 to 24 without post secondary education, low-income adults without advanced education, adults with disabilities, ex-offenders, recent immigrants, refugees, veterans and dislocated workers. Some of those dislocated workers are government contract employees who have been impacted by sequestration. They are highly skilled and educated but have trouble finding appropriate new positions. Among ex-felons, SkillSource has an impressive track record of only a 4% recidivism rate – compared with 28-35% in Virginia as a whole, and 45% or greater nationally.

The model SkillSource is using is the identification of skills that specific employers need and the development of training programs that provide job seekers with those particular skills. The goal is to provide short term training programs that create skilled workers who can earn a living wage of $15 per hour or more. They also provide “soft skill” training to include things like good communication skills and understanding workplace cultures. While they work collaboratively with the Community College system, the short term goal is not a degree, but a demonstrable skill that may or may not include a formal certification.

One of the programs SkillSource offers is an “On The Job Training Program” which provides training and support to a job seeker who is a potential hire for an employer. That program provides subsidized wages to offset the employer’s cost and the result is most often an offer of a permanent placement. It’s a “shared risk” model that creates more opportunities for job seekers to learn skills specific to an employer without the employer bearing the entire financial burden.

For more information about the SkillSource programs and centers visit them at www.MySkillSource.org

Filed Under: Blogging, TV Shows, Virginia, Women, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Community College, Deb Stopak, Department of Family Services, Employers, Employment, Fairfax, Job Seekers, Loudoun, northern virginia, Prince William County, Skills Training, SkillSource, Training Programs, Unemployment, Virginia, WIOA, workforce development

by Catherine Read

Computer CORE with Lynn O’Connell – Your Need to Know

(Oct 25, 2017) Catherine Read talks with Lynn O’Connell, Executive Director of Computer CORE, a non-profit providing work force development through computer training, and Evelyn Woodard, a Computer CORE graduate who is now an instructor. This volunteer driven organization was founded in 1999 to provide computer literacy training to low income individuals and they served about 48 students per class. In 2007, the Board of Directors of Computer CORE made the decision to focus on a broader workforce development curriculum and expanded their resources to serve more students.

Currently, Computer CORE has seven training sites as well as the ability to provide on-site training for other organizations. They serve about 260 students annually, and part of this program is providing these students with refurbished laptops. They are a Microsoft Certified Refurbisher and they welcome donations of computer equipment, laptops, flash drives and binders. Providing students with a computer to use at home that is loaded with the software they are learning in class, is critical to their long term success. It is also a necessity for job today’s job search.

Computer CORE Lynn O'DonnellLynn O’Connell explains that this is a volunteer driven organization with volunteer instructors who bring with them a skills based expertise. While most instructors say on for an average of 3 years, Lynn says there are instructors who have been with the program longer than the 10 years she has been Executive Director. She also explains that there is a great diversity in the educational levels of these adult students as well as a diversity in the languages spoken. Many students come in with an advanced degree but lack computer skills and a familiarity with the job search process in this country. Computer CORE classes offer a variety of skills based training including assistance in developing a good resume and practice in role playing job interviews.

Evelyn Woodard was referred to Computer CORE by her brother who was a volunteer instructor. The majority of students find their way to this program largely through word-of-mouth referrals like this one. While she was initially intimidated in the early days of learning the new computer technology, she stayed with it and completed the course. She actually changed jobs during her initial course and explained to her new boss she had a commitment to be on time to the class two nights a week. Her boss not only encouraged her in completing the course, but when she did, she was given a raise. Evelyn has now returned to Computer CORE as a volunteer instructor and she believes in the value of what this program has to offer.

Computer CORE collaborates with other non-profits in the Northern Virginia area to provide on-site instruction to the people they are serving. One of the organizations they work with is Friends of Guest House, which helps formerly incarcerated women return to their communities. Computer skills are an important part of workforce development and training.

For more information about Computer CORE, visit them at http://ComputerCORE.org

Filed Under: Blogging, TV Shows, Virginia, Women, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Computer CORE, Evelyn Woodard, job search, laptops, Lynn O'Connell, Microsoft, Non-Profit, volunteer instructors, workforce development

Catherine S. Read
I believe in the power of community and the ability of one person to make a difference.

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