CareerEdge Receives $20,000 from Bank of America
MANATEE-SARASOTA, FL (July 23, 2013) – Bank of America has awarded $20,000 to CareerEdge to support workforce solutions programs in the region. CareerEdge is a nonprofit collaborative whose mission is to provide an exceptional labor force to the Manatee-Sarasota region’s growing industries by leveraging community assets and forming high-performing workforce partnerships.
CareerEdge reported successes this quarter in job creation and job-readiness development, and Bank of America responded by awarding $20,000 following a grant request made earlier this year.
“A skilled workforce is important to the strength of a community,” said Bank of America Sarasota President Ed Luecke. “We are proud to have awarded $135,000 in recent years to CareerEdge to support their efforts preparing local workers for successful careers.”
A chief goal of the Bank of America funding is to provide opportunities for unemployed and low-skilled workers to progress in their careers. One CareerEdge program through which this goal is achieved is Bridges to Careers for Low-Skilled Workers, a unique and transformative job-readiness program. In addition, CareerEdge funds incentivize companies to train incumbent workers and develop career pathways to increase the skills of their employees. The Bank of America grant award will help fund these operations, as well as capacity building and workforce training development programs.
CareerEdge Executive Director Nathalie deWolf says, “Bank of America continues to support our work to create jobs and help low-skilled workers improve their career paths and therefore their lives. By leveraging the generous donations of our funders, we are able to provide training and job opportunities that otherwise would not be available.”
As of March 2013, CareerEdge had served 1,846 workers in the region’s healthcare and manufacturing sectors and through its Bridges to Careers program. Those figures include 390 job-seekers and 1,456 incumbent workers served,resulting in more than 230 promotions, 920 wage increases, and 300 job placements.
A separate impact analysis conducted by Urban Market Ventures indicated that the regional economy has benefitted extensively from CareerEdge’s intervention. The analysis showed that CareerEdge’s first two-year training investments of $1.54 million had resulted in $14.5 million in new wages brought into the Gulf Coast region.
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