May 21, 2004

Contact
Karen Ann McCarthy
Capital Workforce Partners
860.522-1111

May 25, 2004

Congressman Rob Simmons Celebrates ‘One-Stop Week’

Tour of Enfield CTWorks Career Center highlights benefits to community

ENFIELD – U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons today joined local officials and leaders from Capital Workforce Partners in a tour of the local CTWorks One-Stop Career Center that emphasized the career center’s benefits to the local community. During the tour, Simmons met with Jody Weller, an Enfield resident who received support and training through the center and is now an educational assistant and accounting tutor at Asnuntuck Community College.

Simmons’ tour was a highlight of “One-Stop Week,” a celebration of this comprehensive resource for job seekers and employers that is available in easily accessible areas across the state. As a private, not-for-profit agency that supports economic development, Capital Workforce Partners administers and coordinates employment and education services to ensure the workforce has the skills needed to be competitive.

The One-Stop Center, a partnership between the state Department of Labor and Capital Workforce Partners, with key support in local communities from adult education and other community partners, offers employment resources, including workshops, case management and occupational skills training. It also offers employers assistance in recruiting, screening and hiring new employees.

“Through the CTWorks One-Stop Career Centers and other workforce development programs funds Workforce Partners supports, we are able to have a dramatic and long-term impact on improving the lives of the job seekers we serve,” said Workforce Partners President and CEO Tom Phillips.

This is evident in the case of Jody Weller, who, in 2001, became one of many dislocated workers from Supervalu Stores. After several job interviews, she realized that a high school education was less than adequate in an extremely competitive workforce. Luckily, she discovered the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program offered by the CTWorks Center in Enfield.

In 2002, Weller earned an Accounting Assistant certificate with a 4.0 grade point average from Asnuntuck Community College and was given the Who’s Who among students in American Junior Colleges award. In 2003, she graduated with an associate’s degree in accounting, summa cum laude, from Asnuntuck Community College and was honored with the “Broken Paddle Award.”  In May, 2004, she was accepted at Western New England College in Springfield, MA majoring in accounting.

As a result of the training provided by the WIA program through the Connecticut Works, Weller is now an educational assistant in the Financial Aid Department and a professional accounting tutor in the Academic Skills Center with Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, CT.

“Connecticut Works and Asnuntuck Community College have provided me with the professional tools I needed to be a productive part of the Connecticut workforce,” said Weller. “I can now say that I have the most rewarding position I have ever held throughout my career. I am able to help people build a foundation that will lead to a fulfilling career.”

The Hartford region’s unemployment rate is currently at 5.7 percent, slightly higher than the national average of 5.6 percent. Unemployment has remained steady here; there continue to be many individuals out of work and in need of employment assistance. The Enfield center is an important resource to connect with both the public employment system and work-based training to increase worker skills. 

The center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with additional evening and weekend workshop hours as appropriate.

About Capital Workforce Partners

Capital Workforce Partners is a private, non-profit organization that designs and manages a growing variety of workforce development programs. The CWP board has more than 80 members who work in the private, civic and public sectors in 37 cities and towns in North Central Connecticut.