Member Perspective: Cait Garozzo

Guest Commentator: Cait Garozzo, Managing Director, West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, University City District @ucdphl

What impact do job training programs have on individuals who have been displaced from the workforce due to the pandemic?

Throughout 2020 and into 2021, it became clear how important job training programs were to those displaced by pandemic-related job losses. The West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, and others like it, provided access to employment opportunities at a time when people were isolated, were afraid, and were being laid off from jobs they once considered secure. Our program offered a safe space for people experiencing the same fears and uncertainties about the economy, their health, and their job prospects to voice their fears and build community. We’re talking about people trying to survive a pandemic, who are worried about providing for their families, who may have been laid off, and we offered space where they receive top-notch job training, a stipend, and, perhaps most importantly, a sense of community to combat the isolation of the lockdown. Our cohort model and program design enabled this sense of community. It allowed people to create friendships, build out a support system, and to be vulnerable with others who are struggling through similar issues all in a supportive and solution-focused space.

Our program has always worked because it gives equal importance to the job-seeker and to the employer. We have always worked to push everyone – participants, employer partners, our staff – to be and do better. During this time, we doubled down on our role as influencers to make sure jobs are high-quality, career-building opportunities that provide a good wage and safe working environment. This has always been part of our operation, but now with a national conversation underway about what makes for a quality job, we found we had momentum on our side to push employers to reconsider the things that make an entry-level position worthwhile: pay rate, consistent scheduling, advancement opportunities, and employee health and safety. What used to be “nice-to-have” qualities in a position are increasingly becoming “must-haves.” We’ve been focusing on job quality work for years and we suddenly found ourselves backed by a national movement that has allowed us to push harder to ensure our graduates have equal access to high-quality positions. To each and every one of our partners’ credit, they have done the hard work and made changes to their roles or processes that have resulted in more equitable access, better safety standards, and have afforded them the opportunity to have some of the best Philadelphians working on their teams.

In short, programs like ours are more important than ever in providing the support, the high-quality positions, and the access to employers.

Through Recharge & Recover PHL, the Chamber is working with our members to position Greater Philadelphia as the new national model to learn, apprentice, and work in the jobs of the future.