Fitchburg State College and Mount Wachusett Community 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. |
