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Communities We Serve
Businesses
The Artisan Baking Center was created as an industry intermediary to address
several industry needs. The ABC provides a common ground for longtime business
competitors to share resources unavailable to them otherwise. Working with the
New York Industrial Retention
Network (NYIRN) and Industrial
Technology Assistance
Corporation (ITAC). we formed a business-partnered campaign to serve the
industry, “Food
from New York”. As part of this partnership we offer businesses access
to services that they may not be aware. They range from real estate assistance,
energy cost reduction, low-cost business loans, product development, business
strategies, production efficiencies and customized training. Improvements and
cost savings in these areas in turn translate into business expansion and job
growth.
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Bakers
The ABC is building relationships with our partner employers,
other culinary institutions and organizations such as the Bread
Baker's Guild of America, We respond to an industry need for master classes
for the professional baker and promote common standards in language, theory and
process. This move towards standardization will be led by education. The ABC
sees part of its mission to bring to the New York region the abundant talent
in the industry to deliver seminars and classes that will both raise and regulate
the industry standards for artisan bread baking.
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Organized Labor
The ABC site is also home to the Consortium
for Worker Education / NYC
Central
Labor Council, AFL-CIO Training Center. CWE is the training
arm for organized labor in New York City and brings 20 years
of educating union members in a wide range of
skills advancement courses. The role of education and training
in Labor-Management relations has always been one where there
is agreement and
shared inventiveness. The CWE brings access to government grants
for worker training to unions and their members who
benefit from the education initiatives.
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Job Seekers
The ABC accepts referrals from the Workforce
1 Career Center (WF1CC) offices. This system, meeting the standards of the federal
Workforce
Investment Act,
encourages
all job seekers to register
and search for employment at a Workforce One Center.
There, job seekers can initiate their search for employment
with a
large job bank and supporting services. Job seekers
in the Workforce One system can request a training voucher
to attend
baking or culinary classes at the ABC. The ABC replicates
the job search activities for our students, targeting
specifically
the businesses we work with in the food service and
baking industries. When job seekers apply for our classes we
encourage them to register at a Workforce One office
immediately to maximize
their chances of finding work.
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Immigrants
Queens has the largest population of immigrants from the widest range of nations
in any county in the U.S. The Center offers a dynamic array of English as
a Second Language (ESL) courses for community residents and for the workforce
of local businesses. Funded through the NYS Departments of Education and
Labor, the classes aim to improve English skills and employability. Intended
for both job seekers and incumbent workers, ESL training can be offered in
conjunction with our other courses or it can be embedded in a skills upgrade
class. The training can be delivered on location or students/workers can
attend classes at our site. The center is well equipped with computer labs
for use in many classes with web-enabled state-of-the-art software for workforce
education purposes.
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Young Adults
Since its inception in 2001 the Training Center has worked with youth in a discrete
program with the construction industry, Construction
Skills 2000, (CS2K). Preparing current high school graduates for opportunities
in union apprenticeship programs, CS2K contracted with CWE to deliver a preparatory
program in pre-apprenticeship. Nearly one hundred young adults enter unionized
apprenticeship employment every year through this program. The program has allowed
CWE and the Training Center to develop curriculum that addresses the particular
needs of youth transitioning to employment. Our staff works with young adults
to identify characteristics that produce successful workers and then we strategize
with these students to incorporate these qualities into their work ethic and
adult lives.
Recently CWE partnered with the Catholic Home Bureau
and the Central Labor Council in an initiative, “Motivating Youth to Achievement”,
(MY2A). This project provided ABC the opportunity to
train foster-care youth who are aging
out of the system in six weeks of career training in the food service industry
and to prepare them for jobs in that sector. The young adults in this program
demonstrate the drive and determination required to enter the workforce as
adults, commanding the salary and respect offered to
new and successful workers.
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