Special Events
CUMBERLAND COUNTY GSETA STAR AWARD RECIPIENT
MATTHEW MADDALENA
Matthew Maddalena began youth services during the 2009 Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) Career Camp programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds received by the Cumberland County Department of Employment & Training. The SYEP Career Camp programs offered out-of-school youth the opportunity to participate in a combination of classroom training and hands-on application/work experience in specific career areas. Youth that successfully completed the summer program were eligible to receive a scholarship to continue their education in that career area in the fall.
At the time of his enrollment, Matthew had just recently dropped out of high school and was living in transition, spending his nights on a friend’s couch. Matthew immediately took advantage of the resources that the youth program had to offer and registered to take the GED test at the Vineland Adult Education Center. The support services provided by the Department of Employment & Training enabled Matthew to obtain his GED while participating in the SYEP Career Camp program. Matthew proved himself to be one of the star students receiving the highest marks possible in areas such as attendance, quality and quantity of work completed, and relationships with the instructors and fellow students.
Matthew’s success in the SYEP Career Camp program earned him a scholarship to continue education. He enrolled in Business Management courses at Cumberland County College in the fall of 2009 where he achieved such honors as making the Dean’s List. While completing his degree at Cumberland County College, Matthew was also pursuing a real estate license which he obtained in March of 2011. Matthew gained employment almost immediately upon obtaining his license at DePalma Realty in Millville NJ where he is still employed today.
GSETA Corporate Partnership Award
he GSETA Corporate Partnership Award was instituted by the membership in the fall of 2003 to recognize the many corporations throughout New Jersey that provide a positive impact on our workforce. GSETA members accept nominations of private-sector corporations or businesses that have sustained viable relationships with the local Workforce Areas. Corporations that actively participate in the development of strategies to guide workforce customers into growing workforce demand clusters and that have a record of impact on the economic development of local areas or within the State are targeted for the GSETA Corporate Partnership Award.
Previous Recipients
2010 Creston Electrics 2006 Colorado Café Associates, LLC
2009 Whole Foods Market Nicholas Gaco, President
2007 Home Care 24/7 2005 General Mills-Progresso
2006 Atlantic Cape May 2004 Verizon New Jersey
Healthcare Workforce Consortium
GSETA is Proud to Present:
WAWA
Recipient of the GSETA Corporate Partnership Award for 2011
In the spring of 1999, Wawa, Inc recognized the need to engage local youth and to reduce their cost of hiring international college-age students. Wawa began a cooperative effort with the Cumberland County Department of Employment and Training, the local high schools, the Cumberland Empowerment Zone Corporation and other local partners to expand their recruitment efforts of much needed summer help for the Southern New Jersey shore area Wawa stores.
When the program began, approximately 60 local youth from Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland were hired to work in stores located between Ventnor and Cape May. Through the success of this pilot project, Wawa hired 120 Cumberland County youth to fill positions in their shore area stores in the summer of 2000. Since then, the program has expanded to over 150 summer employment positions for Cumberland County youth that cover two shifts. At the end of the summer, the young people who successfully complete the program are given the chance to interview for positions in local Cumberland County Wawa stores. This opportunity allows the youth to continue their employment with Wawa part-time, as most return to school in September.
In addition to proving positive summer employment opportunities, Wawa Inc. helps to provide the financial support for transportation and job coaching services that are necessary to sustain employment outside the youth’s home county.
Wawa’s commitment to strengthen the local workforce through providing youth with employment opportunities has been truly valuable to all of the partners. It’s because of their commitment that a number of young people have been employed for multiple summers, transferred to other Wawa stores and have been promoted into management positions due to their connection to the summer youth program. Wawa has certainly made an impact on the workforce industry through the summer employment initiative which provides youth the first step on a career path to success.
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