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.