Career Development
ABCD’s leadership, educators and staff work with schools, business and community partners to provide multiples youth programs that open doors for disadvantaged young people, offering them opportunities to earn, learn and achieve success.
GATE: Generations Advancing Together Through Education
In first year, participants go from poverty to salaries of $26,000 to $84,000 annually
Funded with a four-year Department of Labor grant and with seasoned workforce partners, the ABCD GATE program provides a two-generation approach to workforce development, serving low-income parents who need child care to enter training programs and build careers. GATE offers access to child care vouchers and funds three training programs with partner agencies: Banking and Finance and New Roots training for immigrants with degrees/professional experience in their native land with Asian American Civic Association; Certified Nursing Assistant and Pharmacy Technician with Jewish Vocational Services; and Information Technology with ONLC.
Since starting to serve clients in January of 2017, 69 GATE participants have successfully completed their training program. Of those, 58 are now employed in their field of study. The salary range for GATE graduates is $26,000 to $84,000. See the story here of one graduate who went from reluctant reliance on public assistance to earning a salary of $84,000 annually through participation in the GATE New Roots program.
GATE Graduate – Once in Poverty – Now Earns $84,000 Annually
Razvan, a neurosurgeon for 15 years in the Mid-East, arrived in America just one week before the U.S. travel ban barred citizens of his country from traveling here. He and his wife, an architect, could not re-enter their professional fields, and with three young children, their meager savings soon vanished. He was referred to GATE by the Department of Transitional Assistance and it was clear at once that the GATE New Roots program with partner Asian American Civic Association was a great fit. At New Roots he learned English, interview skills, business writing and communications skills, and developed a resume and cover letter. With an Employment Specialist helping him explore avenues to re-credentialing, he passed a surgical technician course and began working as a First Surgical Assistant. Razan will soon celebrate the first anniversary of employment in this position, with a current salary of $84,510.40 a year!
BUILDING PATHWAYS
Building Pathways prepares and places men and women who were unemployed or earning minimum wage in union apprenticeships in the building trades – at union wages. As apprentice electricians, plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters, roofers and other construction trade specialists, they earn in the $30 an hour range by the second year of apprenticeship and move up to $33 to $50 an hour when they become journeymen in their trade. The program is sponsored by the Building & Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District in partnership with ABCD and the Boston Housing Authority.
