Teen Services Sonoma offers Ready to Work course at Boys & Girls Club

Thanks to a community grant from Impact100 Sonoma, Teen Services Sonoma (TSS) has expanded its Ready to Work courses to new locations.

Last month, Teen Services partnered with Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley to offer a summer Work Readiness Certification course at the Club in Maxwell Village. Sixteen teens completed the course mastering the skills needed to enter the job market. They learned about the application and hiring process, money management and customer service; completed their first resumes; and participated in job interviews with local business professionals.

Joelle Smith donated interview-appropriate clothes to add an extra bit of confidence before the interview process. Teens were interviewed by Sonoma Valley business leaders Lani Parker from Bolt Staffing, Josh Gruenhagen from Safeway, Mei Ibach from Lovin’ Oven, Sarah Barton from Cline Cellars, Eric Gonzalez from Boys & Girls Clubs and Jose Hernandez-Gomez from Parkpoint Health Club. The volunteer job coaches for this Right to Work cohort were Barry Ansell, Manny Bazan, Sandy Drew, Chriss Fife, Amy Gill and Debby Kweller. Each graduating teen has access to a personal job coach who will assist them through the job search and placement process and will continue to support them for the first 90 days of employment.

The Impact100 grant is also providing support for a second workshop that will take place at La Luz Center in January.

For more information, contact Executive Director Becky Jo Peterson at beckyjo@teenservicessonoma.org or 939-1452, or visit teenservicessonoma.org.