Washington Works (WAW), a non-profit making organization has endeared the community in providing employment training for the Seattle disparate communities. The company has been successful in creating training programs and employment opportunities for people in this area. The rent initiative of the program motivated the residents to attend the training programs. Prior to the stat of the training program by WAW, Rhodes had made visits to the residents and share information concerning the employment training and the community’s response was positive (Grover, 2005). On the first day of the training, program only five residents turn up for the training. This is mainly due to the prior experience of programs like this that come, offer valuable services, and leave unceremoniously. The use of personal transformation approach is suitable for the American clientele since it is westernized. Personal transformation teaches women that they are responsible for their own future and it seeks to enhance empowerment and personal responsibility. Life skills learning on the immigrants ensure good incentives and have lasting results (Grover, 2005).
People in this community have remained skeptical to the training offered by WAW. This program has been there in the past and the residents do not have confidence in it. The trainings of the “cookie cutter” prove ineffective to attract residents. The word of mouth approach does not appeal to the residents. Just a few people attend the trainings and those few are hard to retain. The personal transformation approach is not suitable for the immigrant women from Africa and Southeast Asia who in the past have undergone trauma prior to them settling in Seattle (Haan & Steiner, 2008). The WAW model has limitations since it focuses only on employment opportunities while most of the residents have entrepreneurial inclinations.
Rainer vista is home to cultural diversity people who face a myriad of challenges that includes obtaining better employment where one can work for more hours and get a good pay. Only 53 percent of the people in that area are employed, while the employed do not have stable jobs and are prone to unhealthy working conditions (Grover, 2005). Many residents in the area do not have educational qualifications, do not understand the current job market in Seattle, have personal problems and have difficulty in English proficiency. Some of the people face discouragement due to the new and different environment. The problem of ethnic, racial, and age discrimination inhibits people to access jobs. Most of the foreign people are elderly and no company accepts the aged as workers. The few educated immigrants face the problem of the language barrier and fail to understand the job market.
I suggest that WAW apply another program to address the problem of the language barrier. This is because most of the social groups in Seattle fail to access employment due to lack of proficiency of English language. Rhodes has been instrumental to creating a significantly modularized version of the WAW employment training by adding appropriate sessions to address entrepreneurial tendencies. This program is considerably flexible since it allows the residents to study and complete own modules at their own pace. Additionally, Rhodes has started the Refugee Women’s Alliance (REWA) that focuses on the problems that lead to residents’ failure to find employment (Haan & Steiner, 2008). Rhodes uses this program to address hindrances that prevent people from attending the training program. Rhodes improves on the outreach efforts by attending social events of the community to access many American-born residents. Rhodes uses Resident Outreach and Orientation Specialists (ROOS) top recruit more residents among the immigrant community. Rhodes uses the natives to teach the communities since the resident are hesitant to learn from a foreigner (Haan & Steiner, 2008). Rhodes notices that some residents have an interest in starting their own jobs instead of employment. I think that Job plus Program should consider renewing the contract of WAW for them to continue carrying out their program that has so far remained fruitful. This is because Rhodes as an ambassador for WAW uses programs that fit the needs of the diverse communities and her initiatives benefit the community.
References
Grover, C. (2005). Living wages and the 'making work pay' strategy. Critical Social Policy, 25(1), 5-27.
Haan, P., & Steiner, V. (2008). Making Work Pay for the Elderly Unemployed --Evaluating Alternative Policy Reforms for Germany. FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, 64(3), 380-402.
