A Prince George employment agency has landed a $674,000 contract to provide job skills training to as many as 120 people over the next year.
Better known as Employment Action, the Prince George Society for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities will offer the training through the province's Job Options BC program, the Ministry of Regional Economic and Skills Development said last week.
The program is aimed at people who are unemployed and not collecting Employment Insurance and consists of four to six weeks of facilitated group work followed by an additional four to six weeks of work experience, preparing participants for new employment, or when appropriate, further training. When needed, individuals completing the program can also access up to six months of additional support to help them succeed.
Employment Action will offer 10 sessions of up to 10 weeks each.
An information session is set for Thursday at Employment Action office, 1505 Victoria Street, 10 .am. start. For more information call 250-564-8044 or 1-866-409-8044.
In all, the ministry is distributing $15 million to 39 agencies around the province through Job Options BC which builds on two predecessors, the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers program and the Return to Work Employment Program pilot.
The programs around the province start at various times between November 2010 and March 31, 2012.
The funding is comes from the the federal government through the Canada-B.C. Labour Market Agreement through which $66 million is provided each year by Ottawa to be administered by the Ministry of Regional Economic and Skills Development.
The province has the option to renew the programs, for two consecutive one year terms through to March 31, 2014, depending on the success of the program. Employment Action's current contract runs to March 31, 2012.
