Public, private sector come together in ‘One Community CNMI’

More than 200 members of the community, from public and private sectors alike, attended the first day of an all-inclusive event entitled “Workforce Development Training: One Community CNMI” held at Kanoa Resort yesterday.

It is organized by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Districts of Guam and Northern Mariana Islands and the Diverse Community Outreach Coalition and will continue the whole day of today at the same venue.

As a response with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Smart on Crime Initiative, the program aims to engage the community in crime prevention, strengthen protections for vulnerable populations, and make known reentry efforts through workforce development strategies.

“This whole training is to bring the community together to talk about these issues, to identify resources on the ground as well as resources that exist in other places, in the mainland, and to look at both traditional and creative ways to provide those services and programs so that we can meet the Smart on Crime goals,” U.S. Attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands districts Alicia A.G. Limtiaco said.

“Fundamentally, it is a public awareness training and it’s a first step to what we hope will lead to the creation and establishment of other additional programs and services that will help the entire community,” she added.

Various panels headed discussions on different topics such as the state of the CNMI’s economy and labor force, employment and labor laws, and integrating effective job training and retention strategies for the workforce and improving offender employment through employer focused programs were discussed.

Today, discussions will include grants and funding resources and opportunities, and issues and strategies for preparing and supporting offenders completing their terms of incarceration and youth in the juvenile justice system for their successful reentry into society and the workforce.

“The reason why those sessions are important is because there are grants for courts, for law enforcements, for correctional institutions, and programs and services that have already been established and vetted in other communities that we can use as a resource here in our islands,” Limtiaco said.

“This is something that hopefully will bridge the gap in terms of the people that we are trying to serve and the programs that we have,” Commerce Secretary Mark Rabauliman said.

Starting early

While one the main focus of the training is reducing recidivism and guiding reentry into the society of those from prison, Labor Secretary Edith Deleon Guerrero said the CNMI doesn’t need to wait for individuals to end up in prison and then wait for them to exit before help is provided them.

“We shouldn’t be looking at designing a system that way. We should start early, at a very young age, so that we mold citizens, their character, their person, so that they won’t walk down that path of destruction or criminal behavior,” Deleon Guerrero said.

According to Limtiaco, that is why those from the education, civic, and community sectors are also included in the training.

“This training is also about prevention,” Limtiaco said.

‘One community’

The U.S. DOJ is a big part of the training including its Office of Justice Programs, Federal Bureau of Prisons and the National Institute of Corrections-Community Services Division.

Also included in the list of off-island trainers who have provided and will provide information and training are Director Glory Gervacio Saure of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Honolulu Office, U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division assistant district director Patrick Candoleta, and Philip Marlowe of the U.S. DOL Federal Contractors Compliance Office.

Other federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are also taking part in the two-day training.

From the CNMI, agencies like the Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, Commonwealth Development Authority, Department of Community and Cultural Affairs and other stakeholders and organizations such as the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Northern Marianas Trades Institute, Karidat Social Services, Rotary Club of Saipan, and Society of Human Resource Management are part of the initiative.

“It’s ‘One Community CNMI’ that is the message and the theme because not one sector of the community can do it by itself,” Limtiaco said, “What the coalition has stated is that it takes all of us coming together as one community in order to push forward with these efforts and to achieve the goals of the initiative.”