Contact:
Janice
O’Connor
Matthew J. Bruun
MWCC Director of Public Relations
FSC Director of Public Relations
(978)
630-9547
(978) 665-4694
(508)
713-3802
mbruun@fsc.edu
joconnor@mwcc.mass.edu
Tuesday,
July 13, 2010
MWCC, FSC Receive AmeriCorps Grant to
Address Joblessness
GARDNER –
Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg State College have been awarded
a three-year, $585,000 AmeriCorps grant from the Corporation for National and
Community Service to address joblessness and job preparedness in north central
Massachusetts in a unified regional approach.
The award is
among the first of 329 made nationally under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve
America Act to help improve lives and strengthen communities throughout the
country.
The colleges
will receive an allocation, of $195,000 each year to fund the AmeriCorps Job
Ready Project, which will place 15 full-time AmeriCorps members at 12 community
sites throughout the region to increase career awareness, job readiness and
career exploration skills of north central Massachusetts residents. The project
will address the region’s high unemployment rate through job preparedness and
career exploration activities designed to assist three distinct target
populations: high school and middle school students; college students and
alumni; and the economically disadvantaged unemployed, those who are
underemployed, and dislocated workers.
Through
MWCC’s Institute for Nonprofit Development, an inventory of community needs was
conducted in 2009, with joblessness and job preparedness being identified as
the region’s primary need. MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino and Fitchburg State
College President Robert V. Antonucci had the vision to provide a concerted and
collaborative effort to address this problem through the colleges’ respective
civic engagement centers.
“For years,
the north central region of Massachusetts has struggled with high unemployment
and underemployment rates. The AmeriCorps Job Ready Program is a concerted
effort on the part of Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg State
College to address a very real issue in our region,” said MWCC President Daniel
M. Asquino. “The collective energies of 15 full-time AmeriCorps members across
our region over the next three years will undoubtedly create a ripple effect in
terms of the preparedness of area youth and unemployed to access and prepare
for the workforce. We are truly pleased to be able to offer this incredible
resource, through our Center for Democracy & Humanity and in partnership
with Fitchburg State College, to make a tangible difference in the north
central Massachusetts region.”
“The Douglas
and Isabella Crocker Center for Civic Engagement is an ideal venue for
Fitchburg State College to address these community concerns,” said Fitchburg
State College President Robert V. Antonucci. “This project is a meaningful
collaboration that will have a real impact on our communities.”
The colleges
are in the process of recruiting 15 area residents to work as AmeriCorps
members who will be responsible for training and preparing youth, the
unemployed and the underemployed with 21st century job skills.
Through the grant, the AmeriCorps members will receive a stipend for the
full-time positions. Applications for the positions are due by noon on Aug. 6.
Two AmeriCorps
members, serving as leaders, will be placed at MWCC and FSC to develop and
implement volunteer and service learning projects focused on job preparedness.
Thirteen additional members will be placed in the community through a
competitive selection process. Each member will provide 1,700 hours of service,
for a total of 25,500 hours of service each year.
The
AmeriCorps members will be responsible for a variety of duties, including
developing and coordinating volunteer and service learning projects related to
job preparedness and career exploration; developing, implementing and
conducting trainings on careers and their educational requirements, resume
writing, networking, interviewing and job search skills; providing one-on-one
resume assistance; leading career field trips; coordinating job shadowing,
internship and mock-interview experiences; as well as coordinating and
expanding existing job and career fairs.
All members
will receive an orientation, participate in a weekly seminar on job preparedness
and civic engagement led by FSC Professor John Chetro-Szivos, and receive
one-on-one and group coaching by project staff. Members have the option
of taking the weekly seminar for credit at Fitchburg State toward the newly
offered graduate certificate of civic engagement.
Individuals
interested in applying to become an AmeriCorps member or staff support for this
program are encouraged to contact Fagan Forhan, director of the Center for
Democracy and Humanity at Mount Wachusett Community College, at (978) 630-9595
or fforhan@mwcc.mass.edu, or Dr.
John Chetro-Szivos, Professor of Communication Media at Fitchburg State College
at (978) 665-3261 or jchetro@fsc.edu. More
information and application forms also can be found at www.mwccconnects.us/americorpsjobready
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