News

Southbridge Credit Union presented WCAC’s Head Start program with a check for $1,000 to support its participation in a nationwide literacy event known as Read for the Record. On Thursday, October 27th, 2016 , WCAC’s preschool classrooms will join classes nationwide to gather to learn, laugh, and read this year’s campaign book, The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach, as part of the world’s largest shared reading experience. Read for the Record inspires adults to read with children, spurs policymakers and organizations to take action towards transformative change in early education, and puts books in the hands of more children across the country.

Southbridge Credit Union’s generous sponsorship of this event enabled Worcester Community Action Council’s Head Start program to purchase 210 copies of the book so that each Head Start preschool student will be able to take a copy home to keep, while maintaining several copies in the program’s lending library for families to enjoy for years to come. WCAC will welcome thirteen ‘celebrity’ readers to its classrooms to participate in this important literacy event.

The seasons may change, but WCAC’s commitment to helping individuals reach economic self-sufficiency remains. From a successful summer jobs program, to forty years of weatherizing homes, playful classrooms and preparation for fuel assistance season, read all about it and more HERE.

The Worcester Community Action Council, Inc. recently welcomed two new staff people to its Job & Education Center, reaffirming its commitment to strengthening and growing employment opportunities for low-income and at risk youth in the Worcester area. Read more HERE.

The city of Worcester was recently named one of just five cities to be awarded a $475,000 grant from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and its  partners as part of the second round of the Working Cities Challenge in Massachusetts. Winning cities will receive three-year grants of $475,000 to carry out the initiatives they have developed through design grants awarded last fall.

Through this grant, Working Cities Worcester (WCW) will convene and inspire workers, employers, government, universities, nonprofits, and communities to create equitable short- and long-term employment opportunities in the local food service economy to uplift individuals and communities from poverty, with livable wages. The initiative will provide workforce training and career paths for disadvantaged workers in cooperation with local employers, increase career opportunities and operational support for ethnic food vendors and retailers in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and create a learning community to ensure workforce development is a strategic priority in the local food service economy as well as a key item on the economic policy agenda for the City of Worcester.

“Food service is a critical and growing segment of our economy, and this funding will allow us to support it with skilled labor, while providing good job opportunities for our residents,” said City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr.

The WCW core team includes: Worcester Community Action Council, Inc., Clark University, Regional Environmental Council, Sodexo, Chartwells, City of Worcester, Central Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board, and the Latino Education Institute of Worcester State University.

We are Community Action – join us as we celebrate diversity as well as the heroes among us! Don’t miss out on upcoming deadlines to file applications for fuel assistance as well as summer job applications. Read more here.

A special thank you to Bank of America who is supporting WCAC’s YES (Youth Employment Seminar) program with a $6,000 grant. Pictured here are WCAC’s Executive Director Jill Dagilis, Job & Education Center Director Charla Hixson and Bank of America’s MJ Driscoll. YES offers small cohorts of disconnected youth soft skills, work and financial readiness training as well as case management and any required wrap around services required to get them job ready.