Newark Community Organizations Receive Funding Through The Citi Foundation And LISC To Help Train Workers For Growing Job Sectors

NEWARK, N.J., March 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Citi Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) today announced new funding through the Bridges to Career Opportunities initiative (Bridges) to help connect unemployed and underemployed residents in Newark to quality jobs in growth industries.

Two local nonprofits have been awarded $380,000 and technical support to provide services that help job seekers increase their incomes, improve their credit and raise their standards of living. Services include skills training and career development, as well as personal finance coaching, continuing education courses (to strengthen math and reading skills), and resources to help job seekers secure transportation, child care and housing arrangements, which can be impediments to career mobility.

The new funding is part of a $10 million three-year national effort by the Citi Foundation and LISC to expand the reach of Bridges and spur economic opportunity for hundreds of families across the greater Newark area.

"The designation of New Community Corporation and Ironbound Community Corporation as LISC Bridges to Career Opportunities sites is a valuable contribution to our strategy of preparing and matching Newark residents with living-wage jobs," said Mayor Ras J. Baraka. "This will prepare city residents for jobs in high-demand fields. I thank LISC and the Citi Foundation for bringing this innovative program to our city."

Both grantees have 50-year-long histories of outreach in the communities they serve.

• Ironbound Community Corporation will leverage this new Bridges support to help residents train for a commercial driver's license or earn skilled certifications in such fields as child and family development or home health care.
• New Community Corporation, through its New Community Career and Technical Institute (NCCTI), is expanding its education and training programs related to the construction building trades, healthcare, culinary arts and technical positions in diesel, heavy machinery and automotive sectors.

"The demands of today's U.S. job market are playing out in different ways for American workers and we need to support those who are being negatively impacted by the forces that are shaping the modern economy," said Ed Skyler, executive vice president for global public affairs at Citi and chair of the Citi Foundation. "By connecting programs that provide not only education and skills building, but support services for family and housing needs, we're helping American workers who have been or are in danger of being displaced achieve success and contribute to their communities."

The Newark groups are among 40 community-based nonprofits to be awarded funding through this program (a full listing of participating organizations can be found here.) Notably, more than half of the sites, including New Community Corporation, are located in Opportunity Zones, a federal incentive to increase investments in low-wealth communities as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

"Ultimately, we're going to blend vocational services, academic support and financial coaching to enhance the social and financial status of area job seekers," said Rodney Brutton, director of the New Community Career & Technical Institute. "This venture is based on our understanding of the importance of combining contextualized learning with occupational skills and financial coaching, and how that leads to a well-rounded job seeker."

The majority of people who enter the Bridges program are either unemployed or working in minimum wage jobs and testing at a 6th-8th grade education level. After Bridges, more than three-quarters of participants move on to occupational skills training, and 64 percent achieve industry-recognized credentials—opening doors to living wage jobs they would not otherwise be able to access and putting them on career pathways with the opportunity for ongoing advancement. In the last two years alone, more than 3,000 training participants across the country have been placed in jobs.

"It is not enough to offer job training and placement; we have to ensure that our programs and services align with the new economy and that we empower our clients to compete in a global economy," said Rhonda Lewis, executive director of Greater Newark LISC. "Our central aim is to help improve the quality of life for the people of Newark. We look forward to working with our partners in putting those in need on a path to prosperity. This partnership presents a tremendous opportunity, especially as Greater Newark LISC and our local communities share economic development through living-wage employment as a mutual and essential strategy."

The Citi Foundation's investment in Bridges builds on a decades-long relationship between the Foundation and LISC. It also signals an expansion of Citi Foundation's Pathways to Progress initiative beyond youth-focused career readiness to provide adult job seekers the full range of services needed for long-term employment.

About the Citi Foundation
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. We invest in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyze job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant cities. The Citi Foundation's "More than Philanthropy" approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfill our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation. For more information, visit www.citifoundation.com.

About LISC
With residents and partners, LISC forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America – great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. Since 1979, LISC has invested $18.6 billion to build or rehab 376,000 affordable homes and apartments and develop 63 million square feet of retail, community and educational space. To learn more, visit www.lisc.org.

Contact

LISC
Jerrah Crowder
973-624-6676
[email protected]

Citi
Media
Elizabeth Kelly, 212-559-2477
[email protected]

SOURCE Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

Related Links

http://www.lisc.org

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