Homestretch Wins Awards at Volunteer Fairfax Service Awards Celebration

This past Friday, April 23rd, Homestretch attended the Volunteer Fairfax Service Awards Celebration with some of our amazing volunteers. Volunteer Fairfax is an amazing non-profit partner of ours that is located on Main Street in Fairfax. They are the volunteer portal for all non-profits and corporations. We get a good percent of our amazing volunteers who find us through the Volunteer Fairfax website!

There were many categories that were competitive, and Homestretch had nominated some of our beloved volunteers, and some other categories were Volunteer Program, and Corporate Volunteer Groups. And what do you know? Homestretch won for the best Volunteer Program, and our amazing partners at Excella Consulting won for best Corporate Volunteers. We were just blown away, and are so thankful for these two amazing honors!

We will post pictures soon!

Employment Center Keeps Moving Forward During Tough Times.

As of February 2010, Virginia had one of the highest unemployment increases at 7.2 %. The national average remains at 9.7%. Meanwhile, the unemployment rates for Homestretch clients closely mirrors that of Virginia at anywhere between 5-13%.

The Employment Center is open for job seekers to find employment, brush up on their skills, or research training opportunities. Homestretch requires that all unemployed clients spend 40 a week doing any and all of the above. The Employment Counselor works one on one with jobseekers to develop resumes, cover letters, and locate employment and volunteer opportunities. There are roughly 4-8 job seekers each day in the Employment Center.

While finding employment is a necessity, it is just as important to develop new skills. This month, the Employment Center will reinstate computer training classes for job seekers looking for develop or brush up on their computer & typing skills. The Employment Center also works with the Falls Church SkillSource Center and Fairfax County Adult & Community Education Center (ACE) to refer job seekers for further training programs.

As every job seeker should know, finding employment is a fulltime job. The Employment Center is available M-F from 9:00 – 5:30pm to assist in all aspects of job seeking.

If you are an employer who would like information on working with Homestretch to hire a job seeker please contact Maryna Pim at mpim@homestretch-inc.org.