What’s new in South King County – February 2017

Empowering People.

Work can be empowering. Some may feel the day-to-day grind of work but for those who are out of a job, getting the work experience provided through CJ or exiting a WorkFirst program with employment can be life changing.  Gallup released a poll in July of last year stating that 16.6% of unemployed Americans struggle with depression, while 5.6% of Americans with full-time work battle depression.  Self-esteem and self-worth are closely associated with an individual’s vocational life and feeling as if they are a valued member of society.  Career Path Services believes that one way we can empower people is through the work provided by Community Jobs/Community Works and through helping individuals secure long-term, unsubsidized employment.

A Story.

It took two Community Jobs plans and two Community Works plans, in addition to months working with other partners, for our participant Claire to reach her employment goals.

Claire participated in Life Skills classes and experienced a number of different internships to help her in her journey into unemployment. As of today, she happily working full-time in a customer service position.

While some success stories happen overnight, others take time to realize – even five years. Through persistence and hard work, Claire proved the reaching your employment goals is always possible.

Goal! Unsubsidized Jobs Obtained.

Check out some of the amazing  positions  our participants have obtained in the month of January.   All jobs listed this month are full time, unsubsidized positions:

• Warehouse Tech – $11.00 per hour
• Customer Service – $11.00 per hour
• C.N.A. – $11.50 per hour
• Medical Assistant – $15.50 per hour

New Life Skills Classes Coming in March.

Over the past 6 months, we have implemented a four week series of Life Skills (Enrichment) classes for both full-time and part-time participants in the Community Jobs Program. As of March 1st, we are expanding our offering of courses to last 8 weeks. We will be adding classes covering Coping with Change, System Navigation (knowing and understanding better the DSHS/WorkFirst world), Relationships, and Getting Organized. We are looking forward to kicking off this new series of classes.

Upcoming Events.

Microsoft Office 101 Classes (JT 5) – All Classes at 1pm at the Auburn CSO 

• Feb 3rd : Microsoft Word 2016
• Feb 10th : Microsoft Excel 2016
• Feb 17th : Microsoft Powerpoint 2016
• Feb 24th : Microsoft Outlook 2010

Life Enrichment Classes (LS 3) – All classes begin at 1pm, locations listed below 

• Feb 6th : Financial Literacy, Federal Way CSO
• Feb 13th : Staying on Course, Auburn CSO
• Feb 20th : Class cancelled for observance of President’s Day
• Feb 27th : Problem Solving, King South CSO

This project is supported by Grant No. 1302WATANF awarded by US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the HHS. Grant funds are administered by the WorkFirst Program, Washington State Department of Commerce.