Workforce Development Center Continues Its Commitment to Community Service

It’s still hard to believe that the effects of Covid-19 in the year 2020 remain linked to today’s efforts. Our Workforce Programs have always held strong commitments to community service once a month throughout the year. However, many of our long-lasting relationships with other agencies hit a gap since the pandemic as all organizations experienced staff transitions. This year, we are slowly rebuilding new connections and our participants are eager to be able to resume their passions in serving our community.

Youth One Stop participants volunteered at the Family Partnership’s Soup Kitchen this month. This was a great experience for our new program participants because they were passionate about helping the Poughkeepsie community. As the Senior Youth Service Specialist, being able to witness the connection made between our participants and our community felt like we were one step closer back to normalcy and it was truly a heartfelt moment. 
Fortunately, we were able to reconnect with Ms. Nyhisha Gibbs, Volunteer Manager at the Family Partnership. Throughout the years, she has been a core linkage in providing our participants with the opportunity to give back to the City of Poughkeepsie. Throughout this experience, participants were taught how to properly serve in a kitchen setting, learned principal cooking skills, assisted the cooks, and unloaded food trucks to restock their food pantry. Participants also had a fun time exploring the lunch box dining areas and food stations while preparing take-home food bags. Volunteerism is an important component that teaches our participants how to truly listen to differing needs and strengthens their ability to communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds. 

Our Workforce Programs aim to keep this volunteering opportunity for our participants on a consistent basis throughout the year. We are eagerly seeking to build strong relationships with other community organizations to provide our participants with fun and engaging civic skills. We want to thank Ms. Nyhisha Gibbs for giving our participants the opportunity to reconnect to their communities in a positive way. We appreciate Nyhisha Gibbs dedication, hard work, and her support for the community. For more information about our programs, please contact the Director of Workforce Development, Marilyn Figueroa at mfigueroa@dcrcoc.org.
 
Youth One Stop is made possible thanks to a partnership with the Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board and the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce