3.0 Chronology of the Project

The essence of the Bridging the Gap model is to link employment and education. There are nine links in all (See Appendix A). Specifically, the model works as follows:

• Create a team as the Community Learning Network to manage, advise and direct the project. Typically this is a team of federal, provincial and non–governmental agencies specializing in social, human and economic development in the area.
• Secure an employment partner from the private sector who is in a growth or renewal phase and will be seeking 8–10 new, full–time employees within a year.
• Recruit and screen individuals in the geographic area who have not yet completed high school and are interested and able to work. Normally the individuals are on some form of government assistance.
• College of the North Atlantic then works with the employment partner to develop a 20 week in- class curriculum outline which is completely tailored to the requirements of that work–site. There is an additional 20 weeks of practical instruction as well which is on site.
• Funding is secured for the College to teach the curriculum and for the sponsor to hire a Program Co–ordinator.
• Individuals are given the opportunity to learn the skills and knowledge required to be successful in the employment partners workplace. This will normally include reading, math, and computer taught with all examples and assignments drawn directly from workplace relevant material.
• In addition, clients undertake personal development (resume preparation, public speaking, self–confidence building, etc.) and Workplace Health and Safety programs.
• At the end of the 40 weeks, the employment partner has the option to hire any or all of the individuals. They have had the opportunity to observe and work with them over the last 40 weeks.

For Bridging the Gap, Pilot Project Phase II, the following is the chronology of events that happened throughout the project. Where a specific site was different, it is noted

3.1 Site Selection

The site selection process for the second pilot was very deliberate with specific criteria:

• There had to be a variety of geographic locations throughout the province, including Labrador
• The sponsoring body had to be eager and capable
• There had to be a variety of demographic (small and large) and economic (prosperous and not so prosperous) circumstances.

Once areas who were interested had made their intentions and capabilities clear, the Zone 15 CLN reviewed them and made final selections, based upon the criteria.