With a fresh round of new jobs numbers out last week, it’s evident once again that finding employment remains a challenge for many nationwide, and right here in Connecticut. One of our partners at VolunteerSquare offers a fantastic program that’s helping folks in our region get back to work – and they need your help!
Volunteering with Family Centers’ Reaching Independence Through Employment (RITE) program in Stamford and Greenwich can be as easy as brushing up on your job skills. The goal of the agency’s RITE program is to help clients gain greater self-sufficiency through counseling on job and life skills.
“Often times people come into our program because they are coming to see a counselor for mental health, they are under a tremendous amount of stress and through the sessions, the source of anxiety or stress turns out to be because they recently lost their job,” said Jen Flatow, manager of volunteer services for Family Centers. “RITE work with the person to develop job skills and come up with goals.”
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RITE helps individuals and families reach a greater sense of self-sufficiency through counseling, goal planning, job-skills training, life skills and family support. Weekly vocational support clubs are held and focus on topics such as resume writing and defined job search skills.
Flatow said that Family Centers serves a range of clientele so the RITE program does as well.
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“Some of our clients had the same job for 20 years and all of a sudden their company was downsized due to the economy, they were hit hard and are now out looking for a job,” Flatow said. “We do not just work with low-income, we have people with PhD’s in the program and they are really struggling, struggling for a ton of different reasons.”
When the program opened its doors in Greenwich in 1995 in anticipation of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, they typically served the low-income population whom were living in poverty.
Marisol Rivera, MSW, manager of Self Sufficiency and Independent Living Programs for Family Centers, said that now 17 years later, the program serves people who have been employed, educated and at one time doing well but struggled post-9/11 and the downturn of the economy.
Although Family Centers’ RITE program is based in Stamford and Greenwich, clients can come from other areas of lower Fairfield County. Clients are welcome to travel from neighboring towns or Family Centers can help clients find other services within the organization that are closer to their home.
“What we look for are people who are in the community who are willing and able to give their time and attention to clients,” Flatow said.
Volunteers can help and supplement the job of the counselors at RITE. They can help conduct mock interviews, job search assistance, serve as a career mentor and can give a beneficial outside perspective.
“One of our coordinators may meet with a client and say ‘Wow, they are so qualified,’ they cannot understand why this doesn’t come through on job interviews,” Flatow said. “Having someone from the outside can be very helpful.”
Flatow said current volunteers have provided candid feedback to coordinators on what a client might need to work on or change for their next interview. Flatow said they also have worked with local businesses to allow clients to step into a workplace, see the inner workings of a company. This is particularly attractive to businesses since it makes volunteering easy for their employees and Flatow said it is a major benefit to the Family Centers clients.
What's more, not only can volunteering help the folks like those at RITE find work but it can also help you. We've said many times that volunteering is a great way to enhance your own resume and we're not alone. Check out why Forbes.com recently said volunteering was one of ten things you should do to improve your job prospects. It's a win-win!
To get connected with Family Centers, contact Flatow directly or check them out on VolunteerSquare.com. You can also see a host of other volunteer projects at Family Centers and other Connecticut nonprofits by visiting us at VolunteerSquare.com. Be sure to sign up for our free e-alerts so we can keep you updated on volunteer projects that interest you.
Many thanks to VolunteerSquare.com blogger Charlotte Adinolfi for putting this piece together and helping us highlight the fantastic work being done here in Fairfield County. – Rachel
