Executive Directors Lynn Hughes and Lorna Sandhals, along with their staff at Northwest Training Ltd., are pleased to announce that they have been successful in their bid to administer the new Employment Program of British Columbia.

 

The program will be delivered through WorkBC Employment Services Centres in communities across the province beginning in April 2012. These centres support the government’s Families First commitment and BC Jobs Plan, which will strengthen the economy, creating and protecting jobs for British Columbians.

 

“All service providers will deliver the full suite of employment services to citizens and will determine the best way to meet the needs of specialized populations and remote communities,” said Minister of Social Development Stephanie Cadieux. “The new WorkBC Employment Services Centres in Hazelton and Skeena, along with additional services and supports in other communities, will provide quick and easy access to anyone looking for work in the region.”

 

Northwest Training will have two storefront services and will continue with their outreach services to the most remote areas of Northern B.C. One of their storefronts will be in Hazelton with the Upper Skeena Development Centre and the second will be from their existing centre in Terrace. “We are pleased that our clients will be seeing the same faces they have come to know and trust in the community and that we will have the ability to reach further out into the northern part of our province to provide services. We feel pretty excited about the upcoming changes and are starting now preparing our clients for the new program”.

 

Northwest Training Ltd. has been delivering employment services for over two decades in the Northwest. They are pleased that they will continue as they have been to service the clients in their region with a new vision and with the ability to increase their scope of service. Northwest Training Ltd. has partnered with other service providers, such as Upper Skeena Development Centre (Hazelton) and Community Futures 16/37, to ensure that services are continued with agencies that have proven expertise in delivering programs.

 

“The contract provides a one-stop approach to employment services to people on Employment Insurance and Income Assistance, and we will continue to provide support to groups such as Immigrants, Aboriginal peoples, Youth, Persons with Disabilities, Women who experience employment barriers as a result of abuse and People with Multiple Barriers to Employment. We will continue to assist individuals wishing to create their own employment to receive the information necessary to make effective decisions and planning.”

 

Northwest Training Ltd. will cover a vast area in their delivery of the new Employment Program of British Columbia and will utilize existing technology to augment their services, as well as work with communities to create other channels in order to reach the populations in the outlying regions. “We are pleased to be able to provide on line employment training that individuals can do from their own home if they are unable to come into our storefront.”