The Long Branch Free Public Library at 328 Broadway is the recipient of two grants that will enable the library to help community members improve their job search and literacy skills.
Gov. Chris Christie’s administration recently announced the investment of nearly $1.4 million to provide uniform career guidance and job search assistance services at libraries throughout the state.
The New Jersey Libraries Career Connections Grant for Uniform Career Guidance and Job Search Assistance Services, administered by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, will provide training and support to staff at 18 New Jersey libraries to assist residents in their communities.
“As Director of the Long Branch Free Public Library, I am extremely pleased to have been awarded this grant by the Department of Labor. Librarian Janet Birckhead and I worked diligently to complete a solid grant application,” said Tonya Garcia.
“We really wanted to bring this one home to Long Branch, hopeful that our community will benefit from having One Stop Career Shop resources available right here in Long Branch.
“This grant will help us to expand the hours of our Technology and Career Center, offer additional training to our staff and provide an abundance of additional resources to our nationally recognized job search services,” she said.
“Our partnership with New Jersey’s libraries will allow us to expand our footprint to reach an even larger number of job seekers,” said Commissioner Harold J. Wirths of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. “This initiative will help us meet the needs of local communities by utilizing and expanding the resources already in place at libraries to provide a direct link to our services.”
The initiative was recently applauded by the U.S. Department of Labor for its innovative approach promoting collaboration between the public workforce system and public libraries. Grantees will designate staff members who will be trained in the various workforce services offered by the state Department of Labor and local partners and will be able to refer individuals who are in need of more intensive reemployment services to a local One-Stop Career Center. Additionally, the New Jersey State Library was awarded a $250,000 grant to help implement the initiative at the local libraries.
Grants were awarded to ensure geographic distribution across the state, with an emphasis on communities with high levels of unemployment. A directory of One-Stop Career Centers is available at http://jobs4jersey.com/jobs4jersey/jobseekers/oscc/. Local centers are located in Eatontown and Neptune.
Kathryn Angelo, the library’s community engagement librarian, applied for and was awarded a literacy grant after she attended and graduated from the New Jersey State Library Literacy Bootcamp.
“We are absolutely pleased to be awarded this literacy grant. The funds will provide us an opportunity to expand our adult literacy collections. We plan to purchase materials focusing on GED, ESL, health, financial and basic literacy,” said Angelo.
Grantee libraries are using their awards for a broad variety of materials that support community literacy needs, including GED and other test prep books, immigration and citizenship information, and workforce and financial literacy materials.
For more information, visit www.longbranchlib.org.
