Creating a Path Toward Stable Employment

Every Friday the sounds of accomplishment and congratulations can be heard humming from the classroom at the Our Daily Bread Employment Center (ODBEC) which hosts the weekly Work 4 Success Employability Workshop. Each week a new class celebrates their successful completion of the program with a graduation ceremony attend by ODBEC program staff and administrators.  

The rigorous five day workshop offered every Monday through Friday first began at ODBEC in September of 2009 and averages 18 graduates per week.

The workshop is designed to help clients cultivate practical skills necessary to pursue stable employment. Topics from resume writing and professional communication, to interviewing skills and job search strategies are covered. After graduation, clients begin their official job search and work side by side with a Placement Manager at Catholic Charities Employment Services.  

Understanding two of the most common barriers to a successful job search can be lack of adequate work experience and positive references, ODBEC created a supplement program for Work 4 Success graduates called the In-Roads Volunteer Program.  The program is not meant to serve as a substitution for employment, but rather a stepping stone towards it by replicating a work environment where participants gain practical and relevant work experience.

Over the course of 40 hours, graduates are assigned to various volunteer tasks that support the Our Daily Bread Employment Center building and programs. The In-Roads Volunteer Program is not only a valuable experience that helps participants build their resume, but also allows participants to demonstrate a positive work ethic and come away with three written evaluations from their peers and supervisors, which can be used as references on future job interviews.

On January 20^th, Darin Glorioso was officially congratulated as the first student to have successfully completed the high expectations of the In-Roads Volunteer Program. Darin says, “Work 4 Success and In-Roads have allowed me to get in motion again and encouraged me to develop a frame of mind which focuses on a work situation. It has also helped me to tighten up my resume.”

For more information about the Work 4 Success Employability Workshop and In-Roads Volunteer Program, please contact Aaron Kennedy at 443-986-9031 or akennedy@cc-md.org.

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Catholic Charities of Baltimore | 320 Cathedral Street | Baltimore, MD 21201 | 410.547.5490 | Archdiocese of Baltimore