Riverside Renaissance Movement teams with CCRI on continuing education effort

Free “Career Pathways” program is being offered in city starting May 1

By Mike Rego
Posted 4/25/17

EAST PROVIDENCE — Continuing its quest to enhance its section specifically, but the greater city as well, the Riverside Renaissance Movement is teaming up with the Community College of Rhode …

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Riverside Renaissance Movement teams with CCRI on continuing education effort

Free “Career Pathways” program is being offered in city starting May 1

RRM deputy director Eric Crook is leading the "Career Pathways" effort locally, which will be held at the former St. Brendan School.
RRM deputy director Eric Crook is leading the "Career Pathways" effort locally, which will be held at the former St. Brendan School.
Rich Dionne
Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — Continuing its quest to enhance its section specifically, but the greater city as well, the Riverside Renaissance Movement is teaming up with the Community College of Rhode Island and other organizations in East Providence to soon offer an employment readiness program called “Career Pathways.”

The no-cost eight-week initiative is scheduled to begin on May 1 at the former St. Brendan School located on 60 Turner Ave., Riverside. Classes will be held each Monday and Wednesday nights from 6 to 8:30 p.m. RRM deputy director Eric Crook is leading the effort locally in conjunction with Lynn Watterson at CCRI.

The free program is geared towards East Providence residents but is open to all comers from around the state 18 years of age or older. Registration is on a first come first serve basis. The class will be held with a minimum of eight students. It is funded by the Rhode Island Department of Education. The curriculum includes an introduction/outline, an academic assessment, labor market research, resume and cover letter writing, networking and interviewing, mock interviews and career planning. There is also an on-line math component.

According to CCRI literature, the program offers “career exploration and skills improvement for adults interested in training for a career in one of the state's high-demand industry sectors, including health care, hospitality, information technology, advanced manufacturing and more.” Skill development includes: instruction in math, reading and writing for the workplace; work experiences including job shadows, tours and informational interviews and internships; case management services; career coaching that includes referral to appropriate training, job search strategies, and development of a long-term career and educational plan.

This was an effort, as Mr. Crook put it, that began in East Providence under the “Working Cities” initiative, but “kind of found its own legs,” he said. “Working Cities,” created by the Federal Reserve of Boston, is designed to support smaller municipalities in their ability to assist low-income and unemployed residents expand and improve their professional qualifications. Mr. Crook noted program’s like “Career Pathways” could address the lack of continuing education opportunities available to East Providence residents directly in the city.

Mr. Crook credited Jason Rafferty, director of the Riverside Renaissance Movement, David Bachrach, East Providence’s Community Development department director, along with Ms. Watterson at CCRI with laying the foundation for the program locally. He said, the RRM has also worked “extensively” with Amy Frenze, of the Riverside Congregational and Hope Congregational churches, Father John Codega at St. Brendan Church and the members of the East Bay Community Action Program to move the project closer to fruition.

“For the last four months we have been looking all over town for classroom space and gauging what the educational needs are,” Mr. Crook said. “And we sat down with CCRI, and this bubbled to the top as the first thing that we absolutely needed to look at. This is essentially job training or a career changing program for people who are currently unemployed or underemployed or looking to make a significant career change.”

St. Brendan School, which has sat mostly idle since elementary level classes ceased there a decade ago or more, proved to be a quite suitable location with its proximity to commuter traffic. Father Codega and the parishioners of the church have also currently undertaken an aggressive plan to renovate up to eight classrooms, work that should be completed by the fall.

The ultimate aim, according to Mr. Crook, is to get started with the job training program, then possibly expand the offerings and creating what could be viewed as a mini-CCRI satellite campus in the city servicing East Providence and the upper East Bay.

“This is our first attempt to get it off the ground,” Mr. Crook said of the Career Pathways initiative. “By September, those additional classrooms at St. Brendan’s should become available. We want to keep doing this, and if we have enough interest we want to have other types of classes.”

A native of Long Island, N.Y., Mr. Crook, 64, has an interesting employment history himself. He graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle and spent years on the West Coast as a forester. He returned east and worked as a transportation planner for the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority. A father of two, he later transitioned into the investment industry where he remains. He settled in Riverside in the last decade with his partner, Joanne.

Mr. Crook said his motivation to be involved in the Career Pathways project is to boost his adopted community by hopefully helping foster a greater educational and employment environment in the city.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the old story about giving someone a fish or teaching them how to fish,” Mr. Crook explained. “I’m of the belief that this is an attempt to find a long-term solution for the City of East Providence to upgrading peoples’ skills. This is the start. And if we can make this take root, we can do it on even more broader basis.”

Mr. Crook added, “I’ve fallen in love with this community. It has so much to offer and it has such a splendid history…a lot of the industries that were here, technology took them away. So for our youth to have opportunities, they’re going to have to grow their skills…At the end of the day, it’s because everyone has the best interest of the community at heart, and I think this is a step in trying to do something different. Let’s bring education right to the local community.”

For more information on “Career Pathways” or to register, contact Ms. Watterson at 401-455-6042 or lpwatterson@ccri.edu.

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Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.