CFCS receives share for Honor Project

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Compass Family & Community Services’ WorkAdvance Program received $25,000 as its share of more than $6 million distributed last week to 226 charities in Ohio from the Honor Project Trust.

As part of a civil action, $12 million was provided for distribution by the Honor Project to charities in Ohio.

The Honor Project Trust emanates from litigation pursued by the Ohio attorney general against American International Group.

There are three phases to the Honor Project. The first phase was a nearly $2.6 million distribution to the companies involved in the litigation and companies that potentially could have suffered damages. In the second phase, $2.4 million was provided to companies that agreed to use the fund to hire new employees.

The $25,000 Compass Family and Community Services received will be used as matching funds for the agency’s WorkAdvance Program, said Diane E. DeJulio, COMPASS Center for Workforce Development division director.

The program assists unemployed and low-wage working adults in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties to increase their earnings by preparing them for quality jobs in manufacturing occupations where there is room for advancement, DeJulio said.

WorkAdvance is a national research project that is implemented in Northeast Ohio by COMPASS in The Mahoning Valley and Towards Employment in Cleveland.

WorkAdvance is a collaboration of Northeast Ohio workforce organizations and partner employers that links social services, work-readiness and technical training to provide a continuum of support to individuals with a career pathway that also meets business needs.

During the first three years of the program, 493 people have enrolled in WorkAdvance, nearly 300 of whom have pursued technical-skills training with a 78 percent completion rate, and 271 people who have secured employment. So far, 39 percent of those placed have earned advancement, DeJulio said.

In the Mahoning Valley, such advancement means nearly $1.50 an hour or more. In addition to career coaching and technical training, WorkAdvance provides necessary temporary supports such as gas cards to ease the burden of transportation, she said.