Two staff members assisted the students in serving an energrtic and eager crowd of senior seniors.  Mayor Alvin Brown was the featured speaker for this event.  The seniors were delighted to have the assistance of the volunteers assisting them with cutting their meat or bringing them more tea.

The students had a wonderful time participating in this worthy event.

 The center has a capacity of 350 students and while many of these students are registered voters the opportunity to participate and let their voices be heard was an opportunity of a life time for many of our students.  The center provided transportation for those students that wanted to participate in the early voting process.  Many of the students choose to avoid the long lines on Election Day by voting early. However, transportation will be provided for those wanting to vote on Election Day.

 Deanna Eckley and Mark Starr were first time voters and were extremely excited about voting in the election.  Both these students are from other areas in Florida and did not want to miss the opportunity to vote in their first election. 

 The students at the Jacksonville Job Corps Center have a constant presence in the community through their volunteer projects and look forward to continuing to give back to the Jacksonville community.  Students volunteered over 125 man hours to the North Florida Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure activity. This is the second year the center volunteered with Komen during their National Make A Difference Day activities.  The students volunteered for 3 days prior to the race day in order to assist with the race.   In addition to volunteering the students raised funds for the event and participated in the race.  “It was a rewarding experience for me”, said SGA Secretary Ms. Yasenia Zertuche who is at Job Corps working on her Medical Assisting certification.

 Jacksonville Job Corps center trains about 525 students per year.  The young men and women study to become: carpenters, electricians, certified nurse assistants, office administrators, pharmacy, Computer and HVAC technicians and other professionals. The center’s top priority is to teach eligible young people the skills they need to become employable and to help place them into meaningful careers.   It is self evident that Job Corps works…..and it works for our community.

Since its founding, West has invested significantly to expand its technology platforms and develop operational processes for complex communication.  West has evolved into a predominantly automated processor of voice-oriented transactions, as well as a provider of network infrastructure solutions for communications.

Ms. Shaking Jones, a recent graduate of the Jacksonville Job Corps Center is employed with West.  The student is making 11.00 per hour at the company.  Her current position is a customer service representative.

In April 2000, Henri Landwirth, philanthropist, founded Dignity U Wear, a non profit organization that provides brand new clothing for children and their families who are destitute, abused and at times find themselves homeless.  DUW is the only non-profit agency to warehouse and istribute new clothing on a national scale. at no cost to the recipients.

It is such a pleasure to be able to do something for someone else stated the students.  The project is on-going for D Quad.  The following students volunteered on December 15, 2012.

1. Miltanese Walker
2. Roshanda Nowell
3. Traneisha Palmer
4. Priscilla Toliver

The volunteers organized the clothes, shoes, bicycles, games. MP3 players, skate boards, dolls and a multitude of items for over 4,000 children that took part in the annual event on December 20, 2012.

The event was hosted at the Regency Mall

The EPIC Communities Initiative is being pioneered in two communities that have experienced successful residential and commercial development, one in East Jacksonville and one in Northwest Jacksonville. Each neighborhood process is being led by one of our CDC partners. Kevin Gay and Operation New Hope are leading the East Jacksonville process, and Paul Tutwiler and the Northwest Jacksonville Community Development Corporation are leading the process in Northwest Jacksonville.

During the past few months our partners have been conducting individual interviews, focus groups and large group meetings. On September 29, the process will culminate with community-wide visioning meetings for each neighborhood. These meetings will provide an opportunity for all residents to discuss and agree on a vision for their respective neighborhoods and begin to develop a plan of action to achieve their respective vision.

The Jacksonville Job Corps was the host site for this community wide project.  The initial event was hosted September 29th with 3 follow up sessions that occurred in October and November.  Community partners gathered to be apart of this wonderful event.  Volunteers from the Jacksonville Job Corps Center participated with this event.  Organizers of the event was thrilled with the idea of hosting the event in the heart of the community.  Over 400 visitors participated in the 4 events

Congresswoman Corrine Brown and State Senator Audrey Gibson supported the efforts of the organization to take their community back.  Staff members from the Jacksonville Job Corps Center recruited volunteers to assist the center with it;s volunteer needs.

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Over 50 agencies participated in this community event exposing or students, the Job Corps program and Sia Tech Charter school to the services offered at both entities.  It was another wonderful opportunity for our volunteers to share the Job Corps story.  The following students participated in the event; Ben Pinckney, Brittany Bartley, Darius Wheeler, Alonzo Poole, Anthony Ohara, Cameron Tirks, Myranda Segura, Destiny Winfield, Ivan Lockhart, Khadija Issa and Larry Vargas.

The volunteers assisted over 50 children with shopping for items on their wish list.  The child selected 5 family member/teachers who they purchase items for Christmas.  Student gifts cards ranged from 50.00-100.00, the students earned the money through the project with various activities they participated in during the year.

The Job Corps volunteers assisted the students with shopping and wrapping their gifts to be shared with family and teachers.  It was a wonderful opportunity to assist the young children with understanding how much they could purchase with the amount of money they earned.

The following students volunteered for the event: Shakima Morris, Jonmeka Meade, Delonea Mompremier, Lemard Cryus, Pricilla Tolliver, Deanna Eckley, Andre Swain, Bobby Bond, Shavondra Norton, Gabriel Smith, Paul Mincey, Eric Royster, Doug Breland, Alex Bagy, Yesenia Zertuche, Mark Starr, Dondray Hopkins and Andrew Swain.

The student volunteered at the request of Congresswoman Corrine Brown.  They served as ushers for the hundreds of participants who attended the event.  Famed artist Jennifer Holiday was featured artist along with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.

Additionally, the student volunteers were privileged to join Congresswoman Brown and Mayor Alvin Brown in a photo.  It was an amazing experience for the students and one which they truly appreciated.  The following volunteers participated in the event. Alex Shively, Yesenia Zertuche, Gabriel Smith, Jason Slosh Giovanna Flammia, Anisa Taylor and Jacquelle Coats.

Edward Waters College and the Jacksonville Job Corps Center have an ongoing partnership that benefit both entities.

Second Harvest is partnering with other local organizations to introduce Community Food Garden projects on donated parcels in food in food insecure neighborhoods in planning, development, cultivations and harvest of community food gardens, turning a donated parcel into a productive and sustainable neighbor garden.

Students from the Jacksonville Job Corps Center and staffer Ms. Amanda Hardeman participated in planning vegetables in the garden.  Students planted, irrigated and nurtured the vegetables they planted.  Students from the Jacksonville Job Corps Center were delighted to give back to a community that has given them so much.