What’s Happening in Central King County – December 2016

The holiday season brings us several reasons to celebrate. Our clients are enjoying success in several areas of their programs and are on the road to self-sufficiency. In the last few months we have had we have had clients clear charges off their criminal history that were hindering their ability to gain employment in their chosen fields.

We have had another client discover her dream career while participating on a host site. Our client interned at a museum and fell in love with the work. She is enrolled in school to further her education and has made connections with several area museums to broaden her employment opportunities, as well as those of future CJ clients.

In our Community Works program, we are seeing success with clients wanting to get started with participation. Clients that start with 5 hours per week of work are gaining confidence and showing the initiative to request additional participation hours as they move forward. These small steps lead to large gains.

 Employment that matters

Since September we have had 16 participants leave CJ with employment with an exit rate of 51%. Here are just a few of the jobs that our customers have obtained:

• Lab Tech, Valley Medical Center, $20.02 per hour, 40 hours per week
• Housekeeping, Daystar Retirement, $13.00 per hour, 40 hours per week
• Teaching Assistant, Primm ABC Child Care, $13.00 per hour, 40 hours per week
• Pacific Dermatology, $20.00 Per hour, 40 hours per week
• Flagger, Northwest Flagging LLC, $12.00 per hour, 25 hours per week

Changes for the New Year

As we head into the New Year, stayed tuned for updates on our Life Enrichment workshops and upcoming JT offerings. We are piloting a Microsoft series in our South King Branch and plan to offer it to all CJ clients once we have the curriculum finalized (and space located).

Minimum wage is going up in 2017. State minimum wage is increasing to $11 per hour and Seattle is increasing to $15 per hour. We will be updating our CJ employment screens accordingly to adjust for this change. We are aware that this will affect FLSA as well for our Community Works clients.

Thank You

The Career Path Services team in Central King County wants to extend a huge thank you to our DSHS hosts. Not only do we have the honor of partnering with you in helping our TANF families meet their goals and gain employment, but you make us feel welcome and at home. Thank you, and we wish you a safe and happy holiday season.