Watch the video on WJLA.com and read the article below:
Students in Wards 7 and 8 to benefit from new workforce readiness training partnership
by Kellye Lynn, October 15, 2018
WASHINGTON (ABC7) — It was an experience that took students from Ron Brown Preparatory High School in Northeast outside their typical classrooms. They gathered at Martha’s Table in Southeast to learn how to ask for a raise and practice proper office conduct.
“How to shake a hand, how to dress appropriately, how to have the right kinds of conversations,” explained Eshauna Smith, CEO of the non-profit organization Urban Alliance.
16-year-old Christian Johnson of Ron Brown Prep said, “I really want to learn about financial literacy because we’re not really taught that at my school; so I would like to learn that here.”
The students are among the first to benefit from a new partnership between Martha’s Table and Urban Alliance. The workforce training is available to students in ninth, tenth and eleventh grades. By twelfth, they’re placed in paid, professional internships.
Tiffany Williams is Chief Program Officer for Martha’s Table. “We’re specifically focusing on students who live in Wards 7 and 8 and providing opportunities for them to be able to experience internships at businesses and organizations where they live,” she said.
Stephen Jefferson, a tenth grader at Ron Brown Prep said, “Just to get the experience of working somewhere, that’s the biggest thing. I know people who come out of my community they don’t get those opportunities to get an internship or get a nice working job.”
The five year program should reach more than 12-hundred high schoolers; a partnership created to prepare students from underserved communities for career success.
All of the workforce readiness workshops are held at Martha’s Table while Urban Alliance provides the curriculum, training, and runs the internship program.