San Antonio Express-News Columnist Praises Project Quest
"I wish San Antonio City Council could have heard her speech.
Amira Dadzie came from Ghana to the US in 2002.... told a crowd of more than 100 at the ceremony at our Lady of the Lake University's chapel auditorium that she couldn't have without Project Quest. Her path is an inspiration for anyone prone to let life's hardships overcome aspirations. But what I'm hoping is that it also is inspiration for the City Council to rethink giving the program less than it did in previous budgeting."
Read moreInland Empire Sponsoring Committee Preps People for Jobs
"Saturday morning, McClellan was one of 49 Inland Valley residents who participated in a jobs workshop organized by the Pomona Valley Cluster of the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee, formerly known as One LA....
The workshop drew a diverse group of job seekers, among them recent high school graduates, people approaching retirement age, day laborers and out-of-work executives, said the Rev. Robert Linthicum, a retired minister who is a Sponsoring Committee leader.
Read moreCapital IDEA’s Commitment to Students Pays Off
"Capital IDEA Executive Director Steve Jackobs quips that when his organization decides to sponsor someone's community college education, it's like a Catholic marriage: "There's only one way out feet first." It's a joke, but indicative of the two-way commitment between Capital IDEA and its participants..."
In photo, student Liz Spinhirne listens to a speaker during a VIP meeting at the ACC Riverside campus.
Read moreProject Quest Graduates Win Top Two Places in Statewide Nursing Competition
Lisa Pansza and Laura Garcia, "two participants of Project Quest, Inc., a local non-profit that provides education and workforce training, recently won top awards at a statewide vocational nursing contest. The two winners "have demonstrated through their achievements both their individual commitment as well as the value of this program in generating highly skilled workers from within our local community," said Dave Marttala, Project Quest's executive director."
Project QUEST is a community-based workforce development program created in 1992 through collaborative relationships initiated by Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) / Metro Alliance, the San Antonio business community leadership, employers of high-skill workers and other private and public entities.
Read moreEPISO Leverages Commitments from Candidates on Education, Immigration and Workforce Development
"About 450 people gathered Sunday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church to listen to candidates vying to represent Precincts 1 and 3 on County Commissioners Court, Districts 75 and 77 in the Texas House of Representatives, and the 16th and 23rd Congressional Districts in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The event was organized by El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization, a non-partisan group..."
Read more‘No Arguing the Fact That Project Quest Works’
San Antonio's Workforce Development Task Force, composed of a diverse collection of city and county representatives, leaders in the business and health community, and executives from two universities and a community college, reported their findings and unanimous recommendation to City Council: "Expand funding for long term training program Project Quest."
Read moreAMOS Leverages $100 Thousand for Project IOWA
In Iowa, AMOS won an additional $100 thousand for Project IOWA; Republican Governor Branstad included the project as a line item in the state budget as demonstration of support. Twenty students were selected and are prepared to begin coursework in early 2012.
Veteran Columnist Says: Don’t Let Politics Diminish Capital IDEA
"When University of Texas researchers studied the long-term benefits of an intensive Austin job training program called Capital IDEA, they found that graduates enjoyed a steady trajectory in earnings and within six years earned salaries that were $12,000 a year higher than participants in ordinary job-placement programs.
Read moreCapital IDEA Boosts Outcomes for Graduates AND Their Children
"Eloina Serna wasn't the only one in her family who benefited when she signed up with Capital IDEA.... 90 percent of children who are now 18 or older earned a high school diploma and 64 percent of those children earned a college degree or are currently enrolled...."
Capital IDEA was founded in 1998 by Austin Interfaith, in partnership with Central Texas business leaders, to lift "families out of poverty through workforce training, especially in high-demand occupations such as health care, information technology, utilities and skilled trades." Capital IDEA graduate Eloina Serna poses with son in photo above.
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