Description
Work First
Work First is a pay after performance program managed by the Department of Human Services primarily for persons receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Customers assigned to Work First earn their assistance payment by participating in appropriately assigned activities for a required number of hours. SER provides customers with clinical assessments, treatment/treatment linkages, and an intensive array of services
designed to address the individual self-sufficiency barriers, including Work First work assignment for individuals who will benefit from activities that combine treatment services with employment.
Office of Rehabilitation Services
SER operates a Community Based Employment Services program for individuals with disabilities under a grant from the Office of Rehabilitation Services. ORS refers individuals to SER for services that include assessment, job development and placement, on the job training, job coaching services and follow-up.
Year Round Youth
Through the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, SER manages a Year Round Youth contract funded through the Workforce Investment Act. With a primary focus on vocational training, SER offers Out of School youth ages 16-21 opportunity to be a part of the YES! Program (Youth Empowered towards Success!). YES! is a comprehensive program revolving around the ten (10) youth program elements of the Workforce Investment Act. SER has created four main program components:
1) Improving educational attainment,
2) Preparing for employment
3) Supportive Services
4) Citizenship
Core and Intensive Workforce Services
SER provides core and intensive workforce services to under served individuals, including the Hispanic community, in the south and west of suburban Cook County . This program is funded through WIA (Workforce Investment Act) Title IA and POET (Cook County President's Office of Employment Training). SER assist participants with basic skills attainment, job readiness training, resume writing, vocational training programs, as well as job placement
and retention.
SBTI - MOA (Medical Office Assistance
Medical Office Assistant program consist of 750 hours of instruction that includes practical experience and hands-on applications that are incorporated into the curriculum through the use of medical office stimulation projects and related computer software programs. Upon completion of SBTI training students are placed within a variety of medical office positions. This program is funded under the Job Training and Economic Development program of
DCEO (Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity).
Empowerment Zone
AVANCE is a workforce development project created by Central States SER-Jobs for Progress, Inc. with the support of many community partners to offer basic job skills and provide an impetus for bridging technological and employment inequalities within the Pilsen/Little Village area. This project has two major components, basic job readiness training and job skills training, each with different "advances" that touch different arenas of the community thereby amplifying the response to the lack of employment opportunities and disparate technological access. The combined effect of each component will be a stronger, healthier, more vibrant and productive community evidenced by the skills enhancement and employment of community residents as SER reaches out of over 350 empowerment zone residents.
21st Century Community Learning Center - The Poder Project
SER was awarded a 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant to partner with four elementary schools, a faith-based organization, and a bilingual parent resource center. This program will create after school and summer programs for children, youth, and families focused on enriching academic achievement for children by surrounding them with the resources they and their families need for success. SER will concentrate on the family, training parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters as well as providing intensive academic programs for the children. The collaboration of partners christened the program, the PODER Project--Positive Opportunities Developed through Education and Respect. "PODER" is also the Spanish verb for "to be able to" and the noun for "power." SER sees
this project creating opportunities for the communities of Pilsen and Little Village to "be able to" access educational and employment opportunities previously unattainable, and by extension, creating a more healthy and vibrant community.
Senior Community Service Employment
Funded under Title V of the Older Americans Act, the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) program places seniors, age55 and above, with local public and private non-profit agencies. The goals of SCSEP are as follows: 1) to promote useful part-time employment opportunities in community service activities for unemployed, low-income persons; 2) to foster individual economic self-sufficiency; and 3) to increase the
number of persons who may enjoy the benefits of unsubsidized employment. SER is working with over 150 seniors throughout Cook, Kane, and Will counties.
