Help Them Believe They Can Achieve: Motivating Residents to Join the Workforce

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Description:

When it comes to creating an effective workforce development program, instilling residents with the confidence they need to succeed and encouraging them to achieve their goals is just as important, if not more, as providing residents with the necessary skills to compete in today’s job market and helping them overcome logistical obstacles such as transportation and childcare. This session examines the internal obstacles that often deter residents from joining the workforce, including self-esteem issues and negative peer pressure. Attendees will discuss different options for providing positive reinforcement and motivating residents to join the workforce.

Presenter:

Ellen Zinkiewicz
Director of Youth and Community Services
Nashville Career Advancement Center
Phone: (615) 862-8890 ext. 77431

Ellen Zinkiewicz is the director of youth and community services for the Nashville Career Advancement Center, and has been responsible for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth programs since the inception of the WIA program. A masters-level social worker, Ms. Zinkiewicz has 10 years of experience in the field of workforce development, and has worked extensively with federally funded programs that help hard-to-serve and vulnerable populations find and maintain employment. These programs include Welfare to Work, Work Incentive Grant, and a Targeted Assistance Grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Ms. Zinkiewicz is a 2003 graduate of the National Youth Employment Coalition’s Workforce Investment Act Leaders Academy. In addition, she is a founding member of the Alignment Nashville Operating Board, and is also the immediate past chair of the Fostering Success Community Partnership Board, a Jim Casey Initiative-funded collaborative partnership that works to improve self-sufficiency outcomes for young people aging out of the foster care system.