Purple States
Sixteen newly trained blood-takers have entered New Haven’s workforce, the latest step in building a jobs “pipeline” for the unemployed and underemployed. Some of them documented their journey along the way.
This past weekend a training program at Science Park called ConnCAT (or Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology; click here, here and here to read past stories about it) graduated the new phlebotomists and placed them in pre-job “externships” in the community. It’s one of numerous efforts underway in civic New Haven to tie local people to new job opportunities. (Click here and here for two other examples.)
While earning their phlebotomy certificates in a rigorous training program, some of the graduates also worked with a New Haven-based organization called Purple States to tell their stories on video. Come meet them.
Melissa Jones, a mother of three who was already a certified nurse’s assistant who’d been out of work, tells her story in this video.
Kosha Gardner used to work in a group home with mentally challenged adults, and as a hospice worker. “The first time I stuck someone in class, it was kind of scary,” she recalled. Then she became “the classroom star.” Click on the video to hear about that.
And on this video to meet Stacey Golddiamond.
Click on this video for an overview of the program.