New Community Corporation - Job Training

Job Training

In 1993, New Community expanded into vocational training, starting various career classes for low-income residents (of both its own housing and adjacent neighborhoods). The initial classes centered on career fields that New Community was already familiar with, e.g. health care and food service; however, the curriculum was later expanded to a broad variety of career subjects. In 1999, NCC centralized most of these classes within a new $2.4 million, 24,500-square-foot (2,280 m2) Workforce Development Center, and increased its cooperation with State and local welfare-to-work initiatives. One training program remained at a special facility, a cooperative venture with the Ford Motor Company and a local Ford dealership that trains low-income urban residents to assume careers as professional auto mechanics. That program was started in 1996 at a garage equipped with classrooms, tools, and modern auto diagnostic equipment.