Inside the Black Box - Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Cara Program Year Started 1991 Location The Cara Program: 237 S. Desplaines; Chicago, IL Quad Communities CWF: 4655 King Drive (Corner of 47 th and King), Chicago, IL Mission The Cara Program prepares and inspires motivated individuals to break the cycle of homelessness, transform their lives, strengthen our communities, and forge paths to real and lasting success. Area of Service Delivery The Cara Program operates two training sites—one larger campus in the West Loop and a microsite in the mid-south side, but serves communities throughout Chicago; Cleanslate serves 19 communities. Description of Services The Cara Program offers a traditional training program focusing on life skills and job readiness training. Additionally, The Cara Program operates two businesses, which also provide on-the-job training, including: • Cleanslate, a neighborhood beautification social enterprise which provides on-the-job training and transitional support services for participants in The Cara Program who face significant obstacles to employment. • 180 Properties, a joint social enterprise venture providing property maintenance for homes in foreclosure in Chicago. Contracted through Cleanslate, 180 properties offers training opportunities for Cara participants and Cleanslate interns, and is a pathway to permanent quality placements for participants. Funding Website Description Length of Program Size of Program The Cara Program manages the Quad Communities Centers for Working Families (CWF) site. As a CWF site, it offers professional skill development, job placement support, access to income supports and personalized coaching in financial opportunity. CWF participants can also be referred to the traditional program (west loop campus) and to Cleanslate. Government funding accounts for a relatively small portion of The Cara Program’s total funding stream (25%), with the social enterprise program contributing a similar share. The largest share of funding comes from private sources, such as corporations, foundations, and individuals. www.thecaraprogram.org Program(s) of primary focus in this report The Cara Program All Cara participants take part in the same program that includes the following programmatic elements: referral and admissions, life and career skills development, job placement, and retention and stability support. Job readiness and life skills training are essential programmatic features. Monday-Thursday 8:30-5:00, 11+ weeks 560 accepted into the traditional program each fiscal year. An additional 180 are accepted into the training program at the CWF. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 80
Eligibility Participants Served Individuals must be homeless and/or at-risk, drug-free, mentally stable, in stable housing, able to work, and motivated, demonstrating a desire for self-sufficiency. No history of excessively violent or sexually-based crimes, and any battery or assault or theft charges are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Adults, homeless or at-risk of homelessness. • Average age is 39 • 54% are women • 91% are African American • 77% have HS diploma or GED • Slightly less than 50% have felony conviction Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 81
Page 1 and 2:
Inside the Black Box: What Makes Wo
Page 3 and 4:
Acknowledgments We would like to th
Page 5 and 6:
Policy and Advocacy Efforts .......
Page 7 and 8:
Executive Summary The workforce dev
Page 9 and 10:
1. Interface with other required da
Page 11 and 12:
While acknowledging funding as a pr
Page 13 and 14:
Introduction The workforce developm
Page 15 and 16:
Figure 1: Interaction of Influences
Page 17 and 18:
Review of Recent Literature A revie
Page 19 and 20:
development system and found that i
Page 21 and 22:
for contributing to program success
Page 23 and 24:
capture all of the participants’
Page 25 and 26:
The organizations also reported tha
Page 27 and 28:
that needs to be collected. Another
Page 29 and 30:
Recommendation 2: Develop longitudi
Page 31 and 32:
seldom systematically collected by
Page 33 and 34:
With regard to the planning and dev
Page 35 and 36: models in order to best serve their
Page 37 and 38: organizations are interested in col
Page 39 and 40: Poor attitude, poor work history, o
Page 41 and 42: Organizations often use a wide rang
Page 43 and 44: …a more holistic approach to work
Page 45 and 46: in the industry. Professional crede
Page 47 and 48: Success Factors: Workforce Provider
Page 49 and 50: education or no work experience. Ot
Page 51 and 52: equirements. As part of these effor
Page 53 and 54: given as the reason organizations d
Page 55 and 56: passion to see, to transform this c
Page 57 and 58: permanent job opportunities. These
Page 59 and 60: Meet the Needs of Participants Many
Page 61 and 62: participant is linked to an opening
Page 63 and 64: Provide Business Services to Engage
Page 65 and 66: The organizations in the study all
Page 67 and 68: community, such as the services the
Page 69 and 70: depend more heavily on other fundin
Page 71 and 72: Sometimes a legislation that is out
Page 73 and 74: on the participants they serve. Als
Page 75 and 76: Community engagement is also essent
Page 77 and 78: Website Description Length of Progr
Page 79 and 80: Eligibility Participants Served Par
Page 81 and 82: Participants Served ninth grade lev
Page 83 and 84: Length of Program Size of Program E
Page 85: Size of Program Eligibility Partici
Page 89 and 90: Bragg, D.D., Kim, E., & Barnett, E.
Page 91 and 92: Herr, T., & Wagner, S. L. (2007). B
Page 93 and 94: NGA Center for Best Practices, Nati
Page 95 and 96: The Workforce Boards of Metropolita
Page 97 and 98: The qualitative design of this proj
Page 99: 1313 East 60th Street Chicago, IL 6
show all

Inside the Black Box - Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?