Upcoming Events at Employment Services

February will be a busy month at the Center’s Adult Employment Program, with a variety of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.

On Monday, February 1, is the first open house session for the Cosmetology Project. This is a great opportunity to receive training in cosmetology, receive a state license and find a job in the beauty sector. The event begins at 10 am at our Adult Employment Program office at 443 39th Street, Brooklyn, NY. To inquire, please contact project coordinator Dulce Jimeno at (718) 633-4823.

We invited the Business Outreach Center to provide a small business development workshop on February 5. For those interested in starting a  small business, the workshop will help prepare for the first stages of development, including business plan creation and information about useful resources. The two-hour workshop will begin at 10 am at 443 39th Street, Brooklyn, NY; registration is not required. If you have any questions, contact program director Maria Ferreira at (718) 633-4823.

As you may know, 2010 is the year of the decennial Census, and the U.S. Census Bureau is hiring temporary, part-time census workers.  The first step to becoming a census worker is taking a test, which you can do at our program site. Tests will take place at 1 pm on several days, including February 1st, 3rd and 5th.  If you can’t make it next week, more dates will be available throughout February; please contact Ms. Ferreira at (718) 633-4823 for more information.

Our Worker Cooperative Project will organize a new worker-owned business in spring 2010. The new cooperative will provide interior painting and decoration services, and it follows the model of the successful coops organized by the Center over the past three years.  We are organizing an open house event on February 22 at 5:30 pm to recruit members for this new coop. This is a fantastic opportunity for participants to increase their income and become business owners; previous experience and skills are great but not required. To learn more, contact Cooperative Coordinator Vanessa Bransburg at (718) 633 4823. You can also read our previous posts about the award-winning Worker Cooperative Project by clicking on this link.

On February 25, we are hosting an open house event for those interested in working as home attendants. Offered by Partners in Care, this program includes a free, three-week training and a job opportunity for those who complete the training successfully. At the open house event, representatives of Partners in Care will conduct interviews with interested participants between 10 am and noon.

As an ongoing service, we offer credit counseling by a professional consultant every Tuesday from 9 am to 12. This service is available by appointment only – please call Maria Ferreira at (718) 633 4823.

The Adult Employment Program also provides a range of free services to help participants increase their chances to find employment. These include ESL classes and workshops in resume writing, job interview preparation and and using office computer software.  To participate, visit our office at 443 39th Street, Brooklyn, NY to complete an application and receive orientation. For those already registered, job search assistance in our computer lab is available every Monday and Wednesday at 9:30 am.

More Ways to Help Students Explore Careers: Job Shadowing

The Center’s Youth Employment Program, now located at the new Sunset Park High School, helps teenage youth explore career options and prepare for higher education and the workforce. During the school break from February 16th to 19th, the program offers high school juniors the opportunity to spend two hours with adults at their workplace.

This gives students a chance to gain first-hand experience in a field of their interest, witnessing the work environment and the skills the occupation requires in practice. Students are interested in a wide variety of careers, but especially in engineering, technology and medical fields.

If you are interested in hosting a student at your workplace, please email Liz Stevenson at estevenson@cflsp.org or call the Youth Employment Program at (718) 840 1640.

Volunteers Needed: Help High Schoolers Choose a Career

The first annual Career, College & Community Building Day at Sunset Park High School will be held on Friday, January 29, 2010. Center for Family Life and the Sunset Park High School are seeking adult volunteers who will introduce students to a variety of career options.

From 10:30 am to 1:30, volunteers will lead discussions with students during three lunch periods. Each of the three lunch periods is 1 hour in length, and we hope that guests will be be able to spend all three hours at the event so that all students will have a chance to interact with all of the guests.

During each lunch period, guests will speak about their education and career paths, and answer questions from a group of 5-8 ninth-grade students. Tables will be organized by employment field/career.

We plan to set up 21 tables, and welcome several additional volunteers.  In particular, we need volunteers representing the business community and health/medical careers, but anyone who would like a chance to interact with the SPHS’s terrific first graduating class of 2013 is welcome.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Julie Brockway at (718) 840-1620 or jbethstein@aol.com by Wednesday, January 20!

Cosmetology Project Offers Once-in-a-Lifetime Career Opportunity

Center for Family Life begins the new year with an amazing opportunity! In this new project, the Center will assist 50 participants as they complete cosmetology training, obtain a NY State cosmetology license and find a job in the beauty sector.

The project, which includes a four-week preparation course at the Center and eight months of cosmetology training at the Hair Design Institute in Bay Ridge, as well as ongoing support from our staff, is completely free of charge. The Center covers the costs of the entire program for the 50 lucky participants.

Classes begin in February 2010. If you’re interested, please contact the Center as soon as possible – this opportunity is a great value and we expect to fill the 50 slots quickly. All interested participants need is eligibility to work in the US, an interest in the beauty sector and commitment to attending classes; previous experience or skills are not necessary.

To apply or inquire, call project coordinator Dulce Jimeno at (718) 633-4823, or visit the Center’s employment services office at 443 39th Street, Brooklyn, NY.

A Soup Both Heavenly and Diabolic: Margarita, You’re In!

by Julia Jean-Francois

Caldo de camarón (author's photo)

Margarita – chatty and charming, yes, but can her calabacitas and caldo de camarón deliver me into the many heavens of Mexican cuisine?

Some weeks ago, one of our staff nominated a new member for our recently launched Émigré Gourmet cooking collective. Margarita, we were assured, is a fine Mexican cook who knows all the ins and outs of the classic Mexican favorites. This sounded good, but could she put the proverbial frying pan onto the proverbial fire and turn out something fantastic?

On the Way to Recovery, Look to Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Our commitment to supporting immigrant Sunset Park residents to start small businesses is grounded in a belief that promoting entrepreneurship is a key component in eliminating the economic and social disparities between marginalized communities and New York City’s middle class.  An essay in a book recently published by the Drum Major Institute confirms the potential of immigrant entrepreneurship to spark the city’s economic recovery.

Fair Work: Symposium on Cooperative Development

On December 18, 2009, we are hosting a symposium on Fair Work: Building and Strengthening Ties within the Worker-Owner Cooperative Community in New York City. Part of Center for Family Life’s Annual Sister Mary Geraldine Symposium series, the event will bring together cooperative members, organizers and others interested in discussing issues related to the growing worker-owned coop movement.

Following a closed morning session for cooperative members and developers, afternoon programs will include presentations on a variety of topics:

• Keynote speech by Stu Schneider of Cooperative Home Care Associates.
• The role of expert consultants in helping cooperative businesses succeed in a highly competitive marketplace (Presenter: Michael Melcher, CFL Advisory Board member).
• The role of cooperatives in advocacy and organizing for workers’, immigrants’ and environmental rights campaigns. (Presenters: members of the Beyond Care Cooperative and representatives of Domestic Workers United).
• A workshop on decision making, conflict resolution and the social/emotional benefits of participating in a worker-owned coop. (Presenters: members of the We Can Do It! Women’s Cooperative and Unity Cleaners)

The event will be held at the Murphy Institute in Manhattan; attendance is free. Programs open to the public will begin at 12:00 and end by 4:00 pm. Lunch will be served, courtesy of the Emigre Gourmet cooking collective.

If you have questions about the event, don’t hesitate to contact Vanessa Bransburg at vbransburg@cflsp.org or (718) 633 4823. Please RSVP by December 11 so we can reserve a seat for you!

Location: Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies,  25 West 43rd Street, New York, NY.

Center for Family Life Remembers Sister Mary Paul

Sister Mary Paul Janchill, 1920-2009

On November 11, Center for Family Life staff gathered at the new Sunset Park High School for an annual retreat dedicated to the memory of our beloved founder and leader, Sister Mary Paul Janchill, who passed away last May.

Speaking at the memorial were several of Sister’s longtime friends and colleagues, including Gretchen Lord, supervisor in the Center’s family counseling services; Hélène Onserud, director of our community school project at P.S. 1; Robert J. McMahon, executive director of our parent organization, SCO Family of Services; Brenda McGowan, James R. Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare Studies at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service and co-author of a book about Center for Family Life; Vanessa Baez-Sacasa, coordinator of our neighborhood-based foster care program; Amy LaTorres, director of our afterschool program at P.S. 503/P.S. 506; and Sister Paulette LoMonaco, executive director of Good Shepherd Services.

For those who could not attend the event, or would like to preserve memories of it, we are posting excerpts of the speeches below and some of the rare photos of Sister Mary Paul that were on display. The entire slideshow is available for download here (.ppt, 39 Mb).

Cooking East to West: A Cultural Culinary Course

If you love to cook, don’t miss our new, three-day course that introduces participants to the culinary traditions of Southeast Asia, the Middle East Latin America & the Caribbean. We invite you to learn techniques and recipes from the experienced home chefs of Émigré Gourmet – culinary craftswomen who will help you conjure the exotic flavors of their native cuisines – and chef instructors from Kingsborough Community College.

Those familiar with the neighborhood know that Sunset Park is a fascinating culinary destination. In its diverse immigrant communities, the ancient “spice route” is recreated in miniature within these three square miles of New York City. In the cultural groups that make up the Sunset Park, many families have preserved the culinary customs and traditions of their ancestors, and exotic ingredients they use to prepare these foods are relatively easy to come by. In this course, participants will not only to learn preparing traditional foods; the class will also provide an opportunity for informal discussion of the cultural context of each cuisine; for example, whether a certain dish is served to celebrate a bride’s wedding shower, to break the fast at Ramadan, or has some other particular significance.

Course sessions will take place on three consecutive Tuesday nights, beginning December 1, in our kitchen at Center for Family Life (345 43rd Street in Brooklyn). Sessions run from 6pm to 9pm. Cooking lessons are, of course, followed by a dinner together to enjoy the foods prepared by you and the instructors! The fee for the course is $150.

Class size is limited – reserve space now!

For more information, please contact Jessica Bonilla at (718) 633 4823 or jbonilla@cflsp.org.

 

Toward a “New Economy”

Photo: Annie McShiras

The Sunset Park cooperatives are in the news again! YES!, a nonprofit magazine that promotes “a just and sustainable world,” published an article about the Beyond Care Cooperative.

Jackie Amezquita isn’t your typical nanny. During the workday, she cares for her clients’ young children, educating and nurturing them. But as president of Beyond Care, a 19-member childcare cooperative based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, her reach extends far beyond those individual families…

Jackie explains that the cooperative forms a valuable support network for its members, who would otherwise be independent contractors: “I have a backing—a backing of a group of women, working for dignity and respect, working to empower the children that we are helping develop in this world. I have a real sense of solidarity with these women.”

Read the whole article here. If you are interested in Beyond Care’s services, check out their web site.

In September, the We Can Do It! Cooperative was featured on CNN and recognized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in D.C. In recent months, the coops also appeared on the TV show On the Money, on NPR’s Weekend America and in Indypendent magazine.