By Johnny Magdaleno
“It was intense, but I’m very proud and very satisfied that I did it,” she says, referring to the pharmacy program in an interview with JVS Boston. “To get my life where I am today, it was well worth it.”
JVS Boston is just one of several programs, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), that braid federal and local resources into an effective salve for people in need. From Cincinnati to Seattle, these efforts provide “key unmet needs” to job seekers like Feona, according to IWPR researchers.
In December, the institute released findings from a survey of 168 workforce development administrators across the U.S. that quantified the types of personal and family issues threatening to derail trainees, most of which were women, from finishing career programs. Sixty-five percent said child care was the biggest need for women in their programs. Fifty-two percent said schedule conflicts — with other responsibilities like part-time work needed to sustain a living — were another key factor. And about one-third pointed to domestic violence as a common, untended trauma.
