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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2017)
October 4, 2017 Minority & Small Business Week Page 25 Job Training to Break Cycle of Low Employment C ontinueD froM p age 12 gram we teach them life skills, Boys and Girls Club members open the newest Rockwood Boys and Girls Club in Gresham Monday. Youth Center Opens in Rockwood Rockwood Boys and Girls Club celebrates Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metro hosted the grand opening of its newest facility in the Rock- wood community of Gresham Monday. Answering the community’s call for safe places offering structured enrichment programs for youth, the new center is positioned to provide safe, facility-based services for young people when school is not in session. The club is located at the corner of Southeast 165th Avenue and Stark Street. “I am incredibly proud to welcome Boys & Girls Clubs to Gresham,” said Mayor Shane Bemis, City of Gresham. “Their organization is renowned for pro- viding fun and inclusive program- ming to every child that walks through their doors, and I know they will have an immediate posi- tive impact in our community.” The vision for the new club was inspired after the unexpected closure in 2013 of the Police Ac- tivities League Center in Rock- wood, the only facility of its kind in the neighborhood offering after school and summer programming for youth. “Boys & Girls Clubs are locat- ed in communities with high need and few facility-based services to youth,” said Erin Hubert. “We are incredibly honored to partner with the City of Gresham to respond to the needs of the children and fam- ilies in Rockwood. This building, with the support of so many that have stepped up to invest in this Club, will open up a whole new world of opportunity for youth in Rockwood.” The new Rockwood Club fea- tures learning, innovation, and activity spaces for youth 6 to 12 years of age and is the first Club in the Metro Area to have a stand- alone center for teens ages 13 to 18. The Johnson Teen Center was made possible thanks to a gener- ous donation from the Johnson Charitable Trust. Nike, Inc. has supported the new Club’s gymnasium, provid- ing the resources and inspiration to bring sports and fun into the lives of Club members and count- less others -- a cumulative, finan- cial and in-kind contribution of $500,000. The Gym will be acti- vated year-round with seasonal youth sports, fitness classes and community recreation events. The club also features a com- mercial kitchen supported by the Windermere Foundation that will serve over 75,000 meals a year. of the few employment oppor- tunities for someone with a prior criminal record was in construc- tion, as long as the prospective employee had been trained and screened beforehand. That’s where his organization comes in. NUHECDC trains people to develop construction skills, with a special emphasis in car- pentry, and then connects their successful graduates with jobs. Since the nonprofit program’s inception, job trainees have completed about 15-20 neigh- borhood construction projects like building fences, porches, and remodeling. Thirty-five graduates of the program have already been placed in perma- nent construction jobs. The program also assists with interpersonal skills to make a job trainee’s transition back to the workforce a smooth one. “When they come to the pro- Registration open until October 13th soft skills that help them with issues of attitude, anger man- agement, working as a team,” Greenidge said. Greenidge hopes to help the disadvantaged with housing by breaking ground on a condomini- um construction project at 109th and East Burnside in about a month. “We hope to bring 20 new units to the market in June or July of 2018, and they will be targeting individuals that are 80 percent or lower than the median family income for them to buy these homes,” Greenidge said. He is also working on hiring a contractor who will be open to hiring program graduates. For anyone interested in en- rolling in the job training pro- gram or exploring its housing options, you can reach the organi- zation by contacting Greenidge’s assistant, Fa’Lisha Brown at 971- 302-6615.
