the economic empowerment program 5 years of transforming lives

24 Pages·2016·6.14 MB·English

THE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
5 YEARS OF TRANSFORMING LIVES
Economic Empowerment Program participant looks out over New York City at a WilmerHale event.
JANUARY 2016
P.O. Box 1406
Wall Street Station
New York, NY 10268-1406
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
sanctuaryforfamilies.com
Hon. Judy Harris Kluger
Executive Director
Angelo J. Rivera
Director, Economic Empowerment Program
Eveliz Almanzar
Administrative Specialist
Anushri Alva
Literacy Coordinator
Deborah Blumenthal
Employer Relations Specialist

Sarah Hayes
Manager for Training
Margaret Koneazny
Program Coordinator
Jessica Orella
Economic Empowerment Specialist
Saloni Sethi
Manager for Operations
Zelda Wanstok
Case Manager
CAREER ADVANCEMENT NETWORK (CAN)
Stephanie Ferdman and Lisa Wolman
Co-Chairs

A special thank you to our pro bono graphic designer, Pina Iannuzzi.
Spring 2014 Career Readiness Workshop graduates celebrate at Cleary Gottlieb.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sanctuary for Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Economic Empowerment Program ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 2
Outcomes 2011 - 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Landscape – Barriers to a Living Wage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Meeting the Living Wage Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Seven Career Keys Approach to Workforce Development ........ 7
Survivor Story: Meena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Core Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Demographic Overview 2011-2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Survivor Story: Abigail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Program Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Survivor Story: Isabel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Employer Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Program Resources and Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Future of the Economic Empowerment Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Our Supporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
SANCTUARY FOR FAMILIES ofce and shelter locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn,
Queens, and the Bronx, including nine large public
Founded in 1984 as a small network of safe homes for housing complexes, and can communicate with clients
families afected by domestic violence, Sanctuary for in 30 languages. This includes more than 50 Spanish-
Families is today New York State’s largest nonproft speaking employees to address the needs of the city’s
agency dedicated exclusively to serving victims of large monolingual Spanish communities.
domestic violence, sex trafcking, and related forms
of gender violence. Over the past three decades, Since its inception, Sanctuary has recognized that safe
Sanctuary has empowered tens of thousands of survi- shelter and crisis services are just the frst steps in a
vors to leave abusers and create independent lives for survivor’s journey. To truly escape a life of abuse, survi-
themselves and their families. vors require a safety net of support services to ensure
that they remain safe and achieve long-term fnancial
Sanctuary provided shelter, clinical, legal, and econom- and housing stability. This has informed Sanctuary’s
ic empowerment services to nearly 15,000 survivors growth into one of the nation’s leading holistic service
last year. Sanctuary’s 200 employees work out of 19 providers for survivors of gender violence.

MISSION
Sanctuary for Families is dedicated to the safety, healing and self-determination of victims of
domestic violence and related forms of gender violence. Through comprehensive services for
our clients and their children, and through outreach, education and advocacy, we strive to
create a world in which freedom from gender violence is a basic human right.
Sanctuary support staf play a critical Spanish Career Readiness Training Program
role in supporting our mission. participants in EEP’s computer lab.
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THE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM rightful place in New York City’s 21st Century economy.

In early 2011, Sanctuary’s Economic Empow erment Pro- Above all, Sanctuary believed in the ability of clients
gram (EEP) pioneered an in-house workf orce develop- to overcome shattered lives and literally start over.
ment initiative addressing the nexus of domestic violence, Sanctuary’s new approach turned traditional work-
poverty, and homelessness. Over the past fve years, EEP force programming on its head, switching the focus
has grown into a highly succ essful career readiness and from job readiness to career readiness. Instead of
hard skills training prog ram that has served more than lining up rapid placements in low-wage, low-skill jobs
500 domestic violence survivors to date, with an impres- that tend to have low retention rates and minimal
sive 88% program com pletion rate. The program has opportunity for career advancement, EEP focused
consistently achieved placement rates of 66% and one- on the supply side of the workforce development
1
year retention rates of 65% for program graduates . divide – providing participants with the portable
EEP graduates have attained jobs with wages averaging skills they need to not merely obtain jobs, but to be
$13.71 per hour, 57% higher than New York State’s $8.75 competitive in the service-sector economy. The key
minimum wage – includ- was to develop a compre-
ing numerous graduates hensive technology training
“What does a ‘living-wage’ skill set in
who obtained signifcant and professional develop-
New York City’s labor market look like
raises and promotions. ment program and to bring
and how is it different from a ‘low-wage’
it in-house at Sanctuary,
skill set? Bridging that gap theoretically
Predominantly women along with the full range of
and in practice was the key to
of color with dependent other legal, clinical, and
EEP’s groundbreaking success.”
children living in extreme children’s services.
Angelo J. Rivera
poverty, EEP program
participants represent As this report illustrates, EEP
varying ages, education, literacy, and technology skill lev- has delivered remarkable, and remarkably consistent,
els. They have experienced chronic unemployment exacer- workforce outcomes. This has elevated Sanctuary’s
bated by abuse, the burden of caretaking responsibilities, position as a major workforce development provid-
structural discrimination, the stigma of poverty, limited er in New York City, particularly for homeless mothers
educational opportunities, a skills gap, dependence on living in the shelter system. The program also rebuilds
the shelter system, and the need for public benefts for self-confdence eroded by months or years of abuse, and
survival. EEP’s goal from inception was to help the city’s addresses chronic poverty, educational gaps, and a lack
poorest families overcome these barriers and secure their of meaningful training opportunities. Empowerment for
FACTS ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE U.S.
NYPD
1 in 4 women 15.5 million Domestic violence In 2014, NYPD
will experience children live in results in nearly 2 responded to over
domestic violence families where million injuries and 282,000 domestic
during her domestic violence 1,300 deaths violence incidents,
lifetime. occurred in the every year. averaging more
past year. than 770 calls
every day.
1These fgures are for clients who graduated programming between 2011 and 2014 and have had the requisite time to reach placement and retention outcomes.
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program participants comes from reactivating or newly truly profound impact on the survivors of domestic
activating their belief in self, belief in the possibility of violence that we proudly serve from the fve boroughs
a career, and belief in the community as a supportive of New York City. The outcomes produced to date are
system centered on Sanctuary’s holistic continuum of evidence that Sanctuary can meaningfully elevate abuse
legal, clinical, and shelter services. Managed and operat survivors into the living-wage workforce.
ed by experienced clinical social work staf, EEP has had a
OUTCOMES 2011 - 2015
%
ENROLLED GRADUATED CONFERRED PLACED AVERAGED ACHIEVED
564 494 561 270 salaries of $13.71 65%
88% completion rate Microsoft Ofce in jobs One Year Retention
Specialist Certifcations
One of EEP’s two state of the art computer labs.
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EEP combines the best practices of Sanctuary’s 30 The program has far exceeded all expectations, at-
years’ experience in holistic, integrated domestic tracting the attention of city and state ofcials, poli-
violence services with in-house career readiness and cymakers, the private sector, nonproft leaders, and
hard skills training focused on living-wage outcomes. homelessness advocates. Growing recognition of EEP’s
EEP’s program model includes career readiness, ofce success coincides with changes occurring across the
technology skills, literacy, GED/TASC, beginner and city’s workforce development landscape. The NYC Hu-
advanced ESOL, and one-on-one job placement and man Resources Administration (HRA) now coordinates
career development assistance – all provided at referrals to EEP from the many citywide, HRA-funded
Sanctuary’s state-of-the-art Career Services Train- domestic violence shelters. As the city’s frst line of de-
ing Center in lower Manhattan. The program in- fense against both poverty and domestic violence, HRA
cludes a 2-week Career Readiness Workshop (CRW) is providing time and space to program participants
and a 13-week Ofce Operations Workshop (OOW), who need skills and literacy upgrading as a pathway
providing 200 hours of advanced ofce technolo- to the city’s middle-skills labor market. By specifcally
gy training and 100 hours of literacy instruction. citing Sanctuary’s EEP program as an efective self-suf-
CUNY-based occupational courses and substantive fciency and skills building workforce development
3-6 month internship placements with more than 30 model in their Biennial Employment Plan, HRA has
employer partners supplement these workshops. taken the lead in endorsing our groundbreaking work.
As HRA re-orients its workforce services
citywide toward a career pathways model,
Sanctuary’s work has been highlighted in its
Biennial Employment Plan as an efective
program that helps to “develop the skills to
work and become self-sufcient.”
EEP’s Program Coordinator and
Administrative Specialist chat
with a program graduate.
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T h e ci t y ha s al s o cr e a t e d a Jo b s fo r Ne w Yo r k e r s Ta s k The past fve years of EEP’s work are perfectly aligned
Force and an Ofce of Workforce Development, and wit h t h e c i t y ’ s n e w a p p r o a c h t o m e e t i n g t h e l i v i n g - w a g e
h a s wri t t e n a gro u n d b r e a k i n g rep o r t , “Career Path- cha l l e n g e . Wh i l e t h e p r o g r a m m a t i c t a s k i s st i l l c o n s i d -
ways: One City Working Together.” May o r Bi l l de Bl a s i o e r a b l e an d re s t s in ma t e r i a l l y el e v a t i n g sk i l l se t s fo r
ha s ar t i c u l a t e d a ne w ma n d a t e fo r th e wo r k f o r c e de - t h o u s a n d s of Ne w Yo r k e r s , we ag r e e wi t h th e Ma y o r
ve l o p m e n t sy s t e m : th e ci t y ne e d s “n e w mo d e l s fo r that the “payof will be enormous: a much more com-
ski l l dev e l o p m e n t and hig h - v a l u e wor k exp e r i e n c - p e t i t i v e p o s i t i o n f o r c i t y b u s i n e s s e s a n d a be t t e r q u a l i -
es.” Katy Gaul-Stigge, the head of the Mayor’s Ofce ty of li f e f o r h a r d w o r k i n g N e w Y o r k e r s . ” S a n c t u a r y h a s
o f Wo r k f o r c e De v e l o p m e n t , st a t e d th a t th e fu t u r e o f a l r e a d y e m b r a c e d t h i s m a n d a t e : E E P ’ s p r o g r a m m o d e l
w o r k f o r c e de v e l o p m e n t pr o g r a m m i n g mu s t be ce n - has proven successful in meeting the self-sufciency
ter e d o n “ s k i l l b u i l d i n g a n d o n g o i n g a d v a n c e m e n t i n t o n e e d s o f so m e o f th e ci t y ’ s m o s t a t - r i s k p o p u l a t i o n s .
f u l l - t i m e , h i g h e r - w a g e j o b s i n t h o s e s e c t o r s th a t ar e
ac t u a l l y g r o w i n g . ”
THE LANDSCAPE - BARRIERS TO A LIVING WAGE
THE
DOMESTIC WORKFORCE LIVING WAGE
VIOLENCE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE
• Safety Concerns • Career Readiness (deficiencies) In terms of disposable income,
• Shelter Life / Displacement • Work Experience (none or gaps) the cost/benefit or marginal
utility of staying on public
• Self-Worth / Self Esteem • Skill Gaps (especially a digital divide)
assistance (PA) vs. maintaining
• Immigration Status • Education (No High School Diploma or GED) a low wage job is roughly
• Mental Health • Literacy (low literacy or gaps in literacy) equivalent.
• Support System (Family) • Low English Proficiency (need for ESOL)
Many low or no income New
• Financial Stability • Professional Development
Yorkers bounce back and forth
• Housing • Low Motivation / Interpersonal Skills between PA and low paying
• Transportation/Food jobs – neither of which lead to
a living wage job or a career
• Childcare
track job.
EP cr e a t e s a vi a b l e th i r d op t i o n by pr o v i d i n g a mo d e s t st i p e n d an d a mo n t h l y Me t r o C a r d wh i l e pr o g r a m
pa r t i c i p a n t s a r e e n g a g e d i n oc c u p a t i o n a l t r a i n i n g a n d / o r l i t e r a c y - b a s e d a c t i v i t i e s ( p o v e r t y a l l e v i a t i o n ) .

Because it takes time and efort to produce a “material change” – relevant to the living wage economy – this
thi r d o p t i o n h e l p s t o en s u r e p r o g r a m c o m p l e t i o n w i t h i n 3 to 9 mo n t h s .
“Sanctuary’s internship placement program helps interns gain valuable administrative
experience and contributes to the success of WilmerHale. We are pleased to
provide interns with the fundamental tools necessary to launch
their professional careers.”
Charlie Platt, Partner
WilmerHale
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MEETING THE training and placement programs. From 2008-2010,
LIVING-WAGE CHALLENGE in partnership with the United Way and the NYC Hu-
man Resources Administration, EEP ran My Door,
The Economic Empowerment Program was frst which sought to help women exiting domestic vio-
launched in 2005 as part of a Strategic Plan identify- lence shelters enter the job market. EEP partnered
ing economic security for clients as Sanctuary’s top with numerous job training and placement programs
strategic priority. In establishing this priority, Sanctuary and provided screening, counseling, referrals and
acknowledged that high-quality clinical, legal, and fnancial support to My Door participants. And, while
shelter services were not enough for gender violence some participants fared well, outside workforce pro-
victims to truly achieve and sustain economic and grams were often short-term, “readiness focused”
housing independence, and prevent a return to models that led to unskilled, low-wage jobs. Many
batterers or homelessness. referral clients did not complete their training pro-
grams or were not able to hold down the low-wage
Like so many poor New Yorkers, scores of abuse jobs they obtained.
victims have experienced the trap of cycling between
public assistance and low-wage work. Job retention, Realizing the defciency of this referral based model,
career traction, and wage progression were almost im- Sanctuary sought a new approach. In 2010, under the
possible to achieve. Chronic unemployment, skills and leadership of the new EEP Director Angelo J. Rivera,
literacy defciencies, and inconsistent work histories we set out to develop a workforce program from the
made fnding living-wage jobs almost impossible for ground up. Guided by an analysis of the challenges of
most of these women. Further, homelessness and the the My Door program, EEP identifed the full spec-
afordable housing crisis have created impossible situ- trum of barriers to economic self-sufciency
ations for many of the city’s most vulnerable families. related to the confuence of domestic violence, pov-
Among Sanctuary’s clients, we saw a precipitous drop erty, and homelessness – and set out to tackle each
in permanent housing placements: for example, there barrier systematically. Major barriers included Profes-
was a 36% decline in housing placements for families sional Skills/Experience Barriers (lack of work histo-
leaving our 58-family Bronx shelter over the past four ry or experience, lack of sector-specifc skills, lack of
years (from 63% in 2010 to 26% in 2014). Sanctuary, basic computer skills); Educational Barriers (low liter-
along with an increasing number of city ofcials, rec- acy levels, limited or no English language profciency,
ognized that a new approach was needed to prepare lack of high school equivalency or college); Abuse-Re-
the city’s poorest residents for good jobs in a complex,
lated Clinical Barriers (trauma and low self-esteem);
post-industrial economy.
and Poverty-Related Barriers (lack of childcare and
food, homelessness or substandard housing, and re-
EEP initially ofered fnancial education, resume and
liance on public benefts for survival). With its inte-
job search assistance, and referrals to external job
grated network of in-house clinical, legal, and shelter
EEEPP PR OPGRRAOM GRROWATMH G R O W TH 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
PARTICIPANTS* 68 85 136 142 146

AVERAGE WAGE AT PLACEMENT $11.55 $11.34 $12.49 $12.95 $12.90
CURRENT AVERAGE WAGE** $13.37 $13.32 $13.74 $13.60 $14.10

*13 Participants enrolled in more than one year
**Includes subsequent raises and promotions
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s e r v i c e s al r e a d y in pl a c e , Sa n c t u a r y wa s an id e a l se t - Importantly, staf help clients visualize a path to their
tin g fo r th i s n e w p r o g r a m . ow n en t r y in t o th e li v i n g - w a g e ec o n o m y . Af t e r de t e r -
mining the Career Keys each client needs, EEP ofers a
Aft e r ide n t i f y i n g the bar r i e r s , EEP beg a n to eva l u - f u l l se t of su p p o r t i v e se r v i c e s th a t ad d r e s s ps y c h o - s o -
a t e whi c h pro g r a m com p o n e n t s wou l d be ne d e d ci a l , chi l d c a r e , tra n s p o r t a t i o n , cli n i c a l , dis p o s i t i o n a l ,
by eac h par t i c i p a n t . In ord e r to sys t e m a t i c a l l y ad - a n d pov e r t y - r e l a t e d nee d s . Sti p e n d s , mea l s , chi l d -
d r e s s ski l l s , edu c a t i o n a l or lit e r a c y bar r i e r s , E P ca r e , an d su p p o r t gr o u p s en s u r e th a t cl i e n t s ha v e th e
de v e l o p e d the “Se v e n Car e e r Key s ” ap r o a c h (se e res o u r c e s th e y ne e d to st a y fo c u s e d an d co m m i t t e d t o
chart below). During each client intake, staf identi - a hi g h l y d e m a n d i n g t r a i n i n g p r o g r a m .
fy th e mi s s i n g Ke y s th a t th e cl i e n t s ne e d in or d e r t o
u n l o c k th e i r po t e n t i a l to be c o m e co m p e t i t i v e in th e Ab o v e al l , th i s ne w mo d e l is gr o u n d e d in a st r o n g be -
l i v i n g - w a g e la b o r ma r k e t . So m e cl i e n t s ar e mi s s i n g a li e f th a t ou r cl i e n t s ha v e th e po w e r to tr a n s f o r m th e i r
ma j o r i t y of th e Se v e n Ke y s , ot h e r s la c k a fe w of th e l i v e s an d be g i n an e w th r o u g h th e di s c o v e r y an d de v e l -
K e y s , an d st i l l ot h e r s on l y ne e d on e or tw o to co m - o p m e n t of th e i r ow n un i q u e se t of sk i l l s , ta l e n t s , an d
p l e t e th e ca r e e r se t . A cle a r ma j o r i t y ne e d th e pr o - p o t e n t i a l . Fo r vi c t i m s of ge n d e r vi o l e n c e in pa r t i c u l a r ,
fessional development and ofce technology Keys. thi s wa s cr i t i c a l l y ne e d e d to he l p wi t h tr a u m a - r e l a t e d
self-esteem issues, physical displacement, fnancial
EEP staf meet with each client individually to assess ins t a b i l i t y , an d a se e m i n g l y li m i t e d em p l o y m e n t la n d -
t h e ba r r i e r s th e y fa c e , di s c u s s th e i r ba c k g r o u n d s an d scape. As this report shows, the results have confrmed
job sk i l l s , an d de v e l o p a se t of re a l i s t i c ca r e e r go a l s . the efectiveness of the model.
THE SEVEN CAREER KEYS
APPROACH TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
LOW LIVING
WAGE WAGE
On average, participants enter the program
with 3-4 of the 7 keys. The number of miss -
ing keys informs each individual’s career
plan and program length.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
LITERACY (10TH GRADE OR HIGHER)
INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
SECONDARY EDUCATION
INTERMEDIATE IT SKILLS
OCCUPATIONAL SKILLS
WORK EXPERIENCE
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