NYC Groups Earn National Workforce Award From The Enterprise Foundation, The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation

4/4/2002

From: Samia Malak of The Enterprise Foundation, 410-772-2436; or Catherine Keary of The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, 212-270-7171

SAN ANTONIO, April 4 -- The 2002 J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation Awards for Excellence in Workforce Development today honored Highbridge Community Life Center and the HOPE Program, both of New York, for their innovative programs to help low-income people overcome job readiness challenges and take steps out of poverty. The slumping economy along with personal challenges such as low skills, a criminal history or substance abuse make it difficult for many low-income job seekers to obtain quality jobs that can support themselves and their families.

In 2001, The Enterprise Foundation with funding from The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation launched this annual national awards program to honor organizations for outstanding job placement and retention services for low-income job seekers who face many barriers to employment. Eligible applicants included community-based nonprofit organizations and Native American tribes/Tribally Designated Housing Entities serving clients with low incomes and employment barriers.

Three award winners today were presented $15,000 each at The Enterprise Foundation's third annual Ready, Work, Grow Workforce Conference in San Antonio.

The year 2002 award recipients were:

-- Highbridge Community Life Center in Bronx, N.Y., for its Nurse Aide Training Program, which prepares primarily women on public assistance for health care jobs. In addition to classroom and clinical training, counseling, tutoring, child care referrals, job hunting assistance, facilitated peer support groups and a job coach are available to help students achieve certification as nurse aides. About 90 percent pass the New York state certification exam and gain employment within one year. The 20-week training period includes 300 hours of classroom instruction, practical work experience conducted onsite at a nursing home and a two-week internship. The program places 75 percent of its graduates, with retention rates of 86 percent. Graduates earn starting wages of $10.50 to $13 per hour.

"Our graduates use these jobs and their union membership as springboards into higher paying positions in nursing homes and hospitals as well as opportunities for further study," said Ed Phelan, executive director.

-- The HOPE Program in Brooklyn, N.Y., helps individuals from disadvantaged communities achieve economic self sufficiency. With HOPE, clients overcome significant barriers to employment -- domestic violence, lack of a GED, a history of substance abuse or homelessness -- to get and keep a job, often for the first time in their lives. HOPE's job-readiness program includes 16 weeks of life skills training, workplace literacy, computer training and psychological services. To gain real world experience, HOPE's students participate in a 2-1/2 day-a-week work internship with one of 150 partner corporations and nonprofit organizations. The HOPE Program places 83 percent of its participants in jobs, with average wages of $8.71 an hour and retention rates of 80 percent. HOPE offers each student a lifetime of follow-up services that focus on job retention and career advancement.

"This award is especially meaningful to us this year, the year that New York City experienced not only an emotional shock but also the steepest job loss in a decade," said Barbara Edwards Delsman, executive director. "To be recognized for our work is an extraordinary honor that could not have come at a better time."

-- DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., for its Culinary Arts Job Training Program, which combats hunger and creates job opportunities in the food service industry.

"We are extremely pleased to continue our support for The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation Awards for Excellence in Workforce Development," said Michael Feller, president of The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation. "The three organizations selected in the second year of the awards program exemplify the type of best practices which can be replicated by others to help thousands of low-income persons move out of poverty and achieve success in the workforce."

------ The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation established its national Employment Initiative in 1996 to provide grant funding and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations involved in helping unemployed people find and retain jobs. As part of this Initiative, Chase Job Start helps nonprofit training agencies by providing grants and no-interest loans to help clients meet transitional expenses involved in getting and staying employed. The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation also participates in a five-site Neighborhood Jobs Initiative with The Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation. The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation also partners with The Enterprise Foundation in its nine-site Community Employment Alliance initiative.

The Enterprise Foundation is celebrating 20 years of rebuilding America's low-income communities by helping provide affordable housing, safer streets and access to jobs and child care. Launched by Jim and Patty Rouse in 1982, Enterprise works with partners and a national Network of more than 2,200 nonprofit organizations in 800 U.S. locations. In 1997, the Foundation began the Community Employment Alliance initiative, which works to measurably improve employment services to help people move out of poverty. In 2001, the Foundation worked with local partners to place over 750 low-income job seekers into employment, trained over 3,000 workforce professionals and helped raise $5.5 million for local workforce partners.