On Monday, September 25, we welcomed participants of the first CareerPoint cohort! They will be attending training for the next eight weeks, gaining essential skills for the professional workplace. This curriculum addresses concepts such as basic etiquette, the communication model and public speaking, financial literacy (specifically learning to budget their new salaries, understanding their paystub, and benefit package), the art of networking, self-advocacy, and much more.

Following that, they will start their paid job training with UW Credit Union! More career pathways will be coming in the future.

Congratulations to Kaylee for graduating from our Legacy program and earning her high school diploma from MMSD!

"You have battled a long, hard road to get to this point, and it's been so inspiring to see you come here everyday," said Grace, her first crew supervisor. Ian, her current supervisor, added, "Kaylee is the hardest worker on the crew, always out of the van first. She's always hauling more than the guys."

Congratulations to Zae for graduating from Legacy and earning his high school diploma from Madison East High School!

"Zae is an incredibly gifted young man," said Nate, his supervisor, "He's a natural entrepreneur and his innovation is a huge help out onsite. His personality and sense of humor made him a wonderful teammate, especially during difficult times of growth for both the crew and myself. He has the ability to bring people together."

🚂 Red Caboose’s new location

Our Legacy construction crews helped out Red Caboose Child Care Center with the incredible playground of their new center on Winnebago Street! Participants constructed the play stage, storage shed, and spread out a literal dump truck's worth of mulch.

“This group has been fantastic to work with!” said Red Caboose, “Thank you OFS for your support and dedication! We appreciate you!”

Their grand opening is Saturday, September 30!

Earlier this month, we welcomed staff from Serve Wisconsin and Senator Ron Johnson’s office to our construction site in Sun Prairie! Our Legacy participants, who are YouthBuild AmeriCorps members, were excited to give them a tour of this affordable housing project.

💻 Legacy alum follow-up

In summer of 2022, Ratha graduated from our Legacy program and initially transitioned to our Conservation Academy. He decided that conservation wasn't his ideal career, and this past August, enrolled in CareerScape for career counseling. Working with Aram, CareerScape coordinator, Ratha described his interest in technology. With Aram's help, Ratha applied for the YWCA's YWeb Career Academy. This three-month paid training program covers technical skills such as design, HTML, CSS, and Javascript and employability skills such as project management, plus the opportunity for an internship after completion. Ratha competed against 50 applicants and was awarded one of only 19 seats! He's enjoying his time in the program and their coordinator reports that he is doing well. We're excited to see where Ratha goes next after this program!

👋 Welcome new OFS staff

Stephanie Le (she/her)

Transitions Coordinator

Jake Norman (he/him)

Legacy Supervisor

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