Community Corner

Stamford's Qualified Unemployed Seek Solutions

Are government and private career programs enough to assist Stamford's unemployed in finding sustainable, lucrative work?

Ronald Yeomans, 48, was a Stamford attorney and a general manager at High Ridge Driving School until his position was phased out in January 2010.

As a client of Stamford's branch of Reaching Independence Through Employment since May 2011, Yeomans was one of only four "highly qualified" RITE clients invited to attend RITE's Job Readiness Day on July 25, held at a 350 Bedford St., in which new hires of the Manpower Corporation coached Yeoman and three others on the best ways to obtain a new job.

"I'm here to explore and enhance career opportunities," Yeomans said.

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However, as of late July 2011, despite Yeoman's many qualifications and devotion to RITE's career program, he is still "self-employed."

"There's a lot of people who were not low-income, but long-term unemployment has made them low-income," RITE career counselor Myriam Zelada said. "Because of that, we deal with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures."

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RITE, a non-profit division of Family Centers, has been a Stamford establishment since 1996, and from the outset, it was intended to provide job-seeking assistance to those who had difficulty finding work due to language barriers, skill-sets of low marketplace value, lack of formal education, and criminal records.

RITE assists its clients by referring them for retraining, coaching them on job-seeking techniques, and getting them to a state of "job readiness."

"The time it takes to get there is different for each person," Zelada said.

"The Labor Department is the first stop for the unemployed, and they're very busy," Family Centers Communications Director Bill Brucker said. "The demographics of the program shifted when the economy took a turn for the worse."

Brucker may be stating a fact, given the spike in Zelada's client numbers within the past year. In July 2010, Zelada had an estimated 100 clients, 200 clients in Dec. 2010, and 150 in July 2011. 

Zelada could not provide statistics on how many of her clients were able to secure work, high-paying or otherwise.

"We're moving towards making connections; Manpower has a lot of them," Yeomans said.

According to RITE Director of Self Sufficiency Donna Spellman, participants for the program were selected based on the amount of work they put into RITE's career program, but also based on what Manpower has to offer.

Known foremost as a staffing firm, one of Manpower's websites for job-seekers lists "Grill Cook" amongst their Stamford vacancies.

The true positive impact of RITE may be their effect on client morale. "Some clients have self-esteem issues," Zelada admits. "When you lose your job, it's easy to lose hope. We help our clients set new goals, develop their skills, and most importantly, to not give up hope. That is our strategy."

 

What are your thoughts on unemployment nationwide? How does it affect you? Send your opinions and even thoughts on this article to appear in Stamford Patch's weekly Letters to the Editor at Jamal.Powell@patch.com.


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