Montco Career Connections

We are thrilled to announce that our former client Diamond was honored with the Governor's Achievement Youth Individual Award at this year's annual PA Workforce Development Association (PWDA) conference. Diamond's Career Counselor, Hakim, nominated her for the award due to her hard work and perseverance towards securing wage-sustaining full-time employment to support herself and her son.

While in the MontcoWorks★NOW (MWN) program, she completed a Paid Work Experience with the Montgomery County PA CareerLink office which lead to an on the job training (OJT) opportunity through Educational Data Systems Incorporated (EDSI). After completing her OJT, she was hired full time as a Career Center Resource Specialist. We are so proud of her and grateful that the team was able to support her while she received this award. Way to go Diamond!

The MWN team would like to extend congratulations to all of our MWN participants that received diplomas this year! Lindsay graduated with her Bachelors degree from Temple University. Tori, Michael, Jake, Matt, Amanda, Rasheem, Ifraax, Jack, Victoria and Aniyah all graduated from high school. Dessiah earned her diploma after passing all 4 of her GED exams. What an AMAZING accomplishment for all these young individuals. We can't wait to see where they go next!

The MontcoWorks★NOW (MWN) program held our third "What Employers Want" discussion panel in May. Employers were onsite from Fedex, Brown's ShopRite Stores, Habitat for Humanity ReStores and the Royal Group Mid-Atlantic. They answered questions developed by Sara Hudson, our Developer of Workforce Partnerships. Afterward, MWN clients and team members were invited to ask additional questions. Once the question and answer portion of the event was complete, the clients were able to speak one on one with the employers about potential opportunities in their organizations. Participants were even given the opportunity to interview for direct hire positions with Brown's ShopRite after the event. Panels will be held quarterly, so stay tuned for pictures from the next one in August!

Our Paid Work Experience (PWE) opportunity is not only beneficial for our clients, but also supports our local community organizations and businesses. Christian successfully completed a PWE at the Blessing Warehouse, a non-profit organization that provides free clothing to those in need. While he was there, he helped sort donations, restock clothing and work the check out. He did such an amazing job that their team presented him with a Certificate of Excellence. We are grateful to work with some amazing partners who recognize the hard work of our clients.

We are proud to share that MWN participant Tori has been awarded a full scholarship to the Montgomery County Community College(MCCC) for this fall. For the past 15 years, MCCC has awarded a full scholarship to an Anderson School senior who will be enrolling as an MCCC student. Tori had to write an essay to apply for the scholarship. Over the summer, she plans to attend a phlebotomy training before starting in the nursing program at MCCC in the Fall.

• Ryan obtained his Drvier's License.
• Eddie received his CDL A Learner's Permit.
• Diamond received her CPR certification.
• Joe completed an electrical construction training course with North Montco Technical Career Center (NMTCC).
• Denny also completed an electrical construction training course with NMTCC.

We are so impressed by the hard work our MWN clients put in every day to learn new skills and certifications that they can add to their resumes.

Pennypacker Mills is a well documented historic site of what life was like in the early 1900s. With a unique original collection, the mansion is fully furnished with antiques collected and documented by former Pennsylvania Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker reflecting his interests in early Pennsylvania history, German and Dutch settlers, Native Americans, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

MWN participants and team members had lunch onsite in their classroom space and were given a tour to learn more about the site. Pennypacker mills is a PWE worksite and clients were able to learn more about what tasks are a part of the daily responsibilities for the PWE. This was a great opportunity to learn about the upkeep needed to keep this historic site open and to see a part of Montgomery County's history.

The MWN Career Counselors work together with their clients to support them with their career goals which includes working to find employment opportunities. We are so proud of our clients that are working all throughout Montgomery County filling roles in all types of career fields. Check out some of the awesome jobs our clients were hired for:

• Lindsay was hired for a full time position with the MCIU.
• Matt was hired at Target.
• Sasha was hired at Fresh Grocer.
• Tori was hired at Gross School Bus Service.
• Ryan joined the team at Fed Ex.
• Beyonce will be working with the team at TopGolf.
• Monae joined the team at ShopRite.
• Takarra started with the team at Primark.

The MWN team works with over 100 worksite partners to connect MWN participants to a paid work experience (PWE). See below for current clients who are placed at organizations throughout Montgomery County.

• Shanika is doing a PWE with the Montgomery County Democratic Black Caucus.

• Dessiah started a PWE at Blazin Body Fitness.

• Christian started his second PWE with Clean Logic.

• Jihad started a PWE with one of Habitat for Humanities local ReStore locations.

• Aidan is also doing a PWE with one of Habitat for Humanities local ReStore locations.

PWE's are a great opportunity to gain experience in the participant's field of choice and to learn if that career path is to their liking. We appreciate all of our worksite partners and are excited to support so many unique work opportunities for MWN participants.

For our May Industry Tour, we hosted Edessa from the UPS team to share their Think Outside the Box presentation. She shared information about supply chain, how UPS works to keep the economy moving and a glimpse into future innovation by UPS. After the presentation, participants began a virtual 10 hour OSHA certification course to learn more about safe practices to implement in workplaces such as UPS.

The MontcoWorks★NOW team works hard to stay connected with our community and stay up to date on the best practices that will help us serve our MWN participants. Recruitment and engagement are important parts of our program. Our MWN team members have been to several schools in the community to share information about our program with students and their guardians. Between May and June we have visited with the Pottsgrove High School, Upper Moreland High School, Pottstown High School, North Penn High School, Souderton High School and Perkiomen Valley High School.

The MWN team attended PWDA's 39th Annual Conference. We were able to connect with the workforce development community all throughout Pennsylvania. Sara and Paula volunteered at the Financial Reality Fair at Norristown High School. They worked with the students to help them learn budgeting practices that they can implement in their own lives. Sara, Megan and Hakim joined team members from the MCIU to celebrate Earth Day.