New Brunswick Re-entry Project

Five Views: The New Brunswick Re-entry Project

by Joan McFarland


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Graduating Class, June 6, 1987:
Back: Ruth O'Leary, Cindy Gallant, Bernice Smith, Rosalie Robichaud, Cheryl Mclntyre, Karen MacKay, Shaila Kakade
Front: Darlene Hall, Jean Legere, Doris Paul



CCLOW's New Brunswick network completed its first re-entry project last May. To be eligible at the time, a woman had to have been out of the labor force for at least three years. The successful program ran for 20 weeks, cost $75,000 and combined classes with on-the-job training. Fifteen women were trained in non-traditional jobs: security, loss-prevention, plant nursery and printing. Here are five views of the project from some of the women involved.

JOAN MCFARLAND: N.B. DIRECTOR OF CCLOW
    This was CCLOW N.B.'s first major project. It was a big undertaking and we're glad we did it despite our frustration with the way the Canadian Jobs Strategy is set up at the local level. We feel that our program was a success, that it made a difference to the lives of the fifteen participants and to our own. This was reflected in our graduation ceremony - a thrilling day for everyone involved.

Getting the Grant

    In the summer of 1985, shortly after the Canadian Jobs Strategy was announced, CCLOW, along with other women's organizations, was invited to a meeting arranged by the Fredericton office of the Canadian Employment and Immigration Commission. We were all encouraged to apply to become coordinators of a re-entry project. CCLOW was the only group to prepare a proposal.
Joan McFarland
Joan McFarland
But before we could even begin, we had to design a program and find potential participants and training-place hosts. This was impossible because we were working as volunteers while also holding down full-time jobs or study programs.

    We explained this to CEIC and they suggested that we apply for an "organizational capacity" grant to hire someone to do the preparation. We received $5000 in January and submitted a brief outline of the project in March. Our full proposal was approved at the end of November and the participants started in January. The original starting date had been April 1986. Delays made arrangements with training-place hosts, teachers. and participants difficult to make.



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