A member of our Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) works for the Next Generation Zone, a subsidiary of Goodwill Industries that helps young, at-risk people between the ages of 16 and 21 with employment and education. She has told us over and over that her “kids” struggle with transportation issues and many of them show up at her office on skateboards as their main form of transportation.
With the end of the year coming, I know that many of you work for companies that have to donate a certain amount each year in order to get tax writeoffs. If you are looking for something to donate to that helps youth and the economy, please consider donating toward 2 hour bus passes that help these young people get to jobs, and in turn, reach their goals. You can either make donations directly to Goodwill and designate them as being for the Next Generation Zone or contact Jessica at jessicac@nextgenzone.org for more information on how to help.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
A couple of weeks ago ONES (Organizations of North East Spokane) and the NEPDA sponsored a group from Chicago called the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Group and they have been training high school kids for manufacturing jobs since tha average age of people in manufacturing is 57, both workers and management. When they are trained they find the kids jobs, but what is one of the biggest handicap of getting the job? Transportation. On December 11 at 5:30 at NECC will be a NEPDA meeting to go over what we learned from the Chicago group in hopes to start job training and manufacturing in the industrial area of East Hillyard. Ask Joe Tortorelli about it as he is on that board, but missed most of the presentations.
Oh wow, that's really interesting. We've been talking a lot lately about how the baby boomers will start to retire soon and we will have a major lack of skilled/qualified workers. Joe is supposed to be in the office this week, I'll have him fill me in. Thanks!