Over 70 register for job readiness courses and looking for jobs

CNMI Women’s Association job readiness participants, CWA team and board members, and Northern Marianas College Community Development Institute instructor pose for a photo after Day 1 of the training. (Contributed Photo)

Brought to the public by the CNMI Women’s Association, a non-profit community organization comprised primarily of volunteers and a staff of two, basic job readiness trainings in work ethics and customer service rolled out on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week capturing 72 Saipan registrants who are primarily unemployed and very hopeful in getting employed.

The work ethics and customer service courses were delivered by the Northern Marianas College Community Development Institute, which were prioritized topics recommended to CWA by prospective employers.

Although CWA’s vision is “to ensure that women are fully engaged in the political, economic and social development of our Commonwealth,” the organization does not discriminate and helps anyone seeking out their assistance. The CWA is also a sub-grantee of the DCCA Division of Youth Affairs Office’s federally funded Community Services Block Grant, which was instrumental in funding the organization’s Job Readiness efforts.

With CWA’s priority goals focused on education, employment, and training, the organization has been active in the community these past two years, reaching out to underserved and low-income groups primarily, with the aim to assist individuals and families obtain employment, complete their Adult Basic Education, and help clients access various services and resources including Medicaid, WIA, NMTI, to name a few.

With the recent training on Saipan, 72 individuals registered and 54 completed the training. Participants varied in age, comprised of both men and women of diverse ethnicities and nationalities and with different circumstances and backgrounds, but with a common motivation that allowed them to stick the training out and complete the courses.

According to Pattie Mareham, CWA’s caseworker and interim program administrator, “the participants came out of the training feeling very excited and motivated knowing they are not alone and are a step closer to getting a job. This is just the beginning so we have a long road ahead of us.”

According to T. Wilson, one of the training participants, “after emailing all Saipan representatives, Felicidad Ogumoro and CWA were the only people to respond offering assistance. CWA has been firmly committed to assisting me with obtaining employment and housing.”

CWA welcomes and urges other individuals such as Wilson and many more in need of a job and other dire assistance to reach out to CWA. Aside from receiving a certificate of completion from NMC’s CDI Program and gaining background knowledge that will hopefully help participants once employed, part of CWA’s efforts involved assisting the participants with putting their resumes together and getting job applications filled out. The organization also identified 17 participants with no high school diploma and hence, assisted all 17 participants fill out applications to enroll at NMC’s Adult Basic Education (ABE) program and helped five fill out applications to the Northern Marianas Trades Institute. In fact, CWA coordinated directly with NMC’s ABE Program right after the training in order to assist the participants with no high school diplomas and hence, have already scheduled an ABE orientation date with NMC on September 20th, 2016.

According to Roxanne Diaz, the project lead that CWA recently contracted, “the next step CWA will be taking is to package all the applications and present them to the prospective employers and entities, which CWA will be closely communicating and following up with in order to further assist clients, especially those without telephones and transportation.”

Prior to the start of last week’s job readiness classes, CWA has been actively reaching out via PTO meetings at schools, the Food Stamp office and on the media targeting unemployed individuals to take advantage of the program. According to Diaz, “aside from its participant recruitment efforts, CWA has also been reaching out to prospective employers such as PIC, BSI, Coral Ocean Point, Triple J Enterprises, to name a few, in order to obtain respective job applications, identify processes in transmitting and following up on applications, and to better understand employer expectations, challenges and needs in hopes to form more formal partnerships with each in the near future. CWA continues to reach out to more employers on all three islands and encourages more employers to contact and engage with CWA as well.”

Again, the job readiness program is one of the many opportunities by CWA aimed to actively recruit, train, secure employment for our people. It is an ongoing program and our goal is to ensure that our clients are job ready, dependable, employable, and employed long-term. The next training sites and dates will be on Sept. 13 and 14 on Rota and Sept. 15 and 16 on Tinian.

CWA encourages the public to avail to their services even if one is not able to attend the trainings. CWA is reaching out to anyone in our community looking for a job,wants to work but may lack basic work skills, wants to work but lacks a high school diploma, or just wants to get more information on what CWA can offer to help them access employment and obtain the basic skills necessary to succeed in the workplace.

The CWA team stands ready to assist with job applications and other services at the Garapan Community Development Center (behind the Garapan Basketball Court on Beach Road), Monday-Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

The CWA and its board members (Rep. Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Doris R. Drew, Julie O. Manglona, Jacqueline Che, Erna Ngirongor, and Connie Villagomez) would also like to recognize key donors and partners that generously contributed in this month’s Job Readiness program: Karidat, Carolinian Affairs Office, Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro’s Office, PSS, the Nutrition Assistance Program, the Northern Marianas College (Tinian), the Rota Mayor’s Office, and Sorensen Media Group. CWA also acknowledges the good work of the DCCA Division of Youth Services Office, which oversees the Community Services Block Grant that funded the job readiness program.

To learn more, contact CWA at 233-9411, 484-6976, visit us at @CNMIWomen on Facebook, on our website at www.CNMIWomen.org or email us at p.mareham@cnmiwomen.org. (PR)