ICYMI: We Are Now Recruiting for a Disability Resource Coordinator and a Business Services Representative!

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Christina with her dog, Cooper

Introducing Christina Stenzinger

New Employment and Training Counselor

Otsego CDO Workforce

A Little About Christina:

"I graduated with a communications degree from New York Institute of Technology. I am looking forward to inspiring youth and adults towards a successful career path!

"I have ten years of professional experience in customer service, management, and human services. I worked as a Preventive Caseworker in Otsego county engaging with youth and adults in the local community. I have focused on connecting clients with local

resources to encourage independence and develop skills to flourish within the community. 

"I am looking forward to exploring and evaluating the client's interests and aptitudes in order to establish confidence, develop skills, and inspire for a bright future.

"I am dedicated to working with local members of the community and building relationships that will result in a successful vocational path. I am excited to be a part of the CDO workforce team!"

"Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.

Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."—Gloria Steinem

Welcome, Christina!!

Margo Burkett, CDO DOL Business Services Representative and Stacy Smith, CDO DOL Employment Counselor  

Kathy DeAngelo, CDO Disability Resource Coordinator and Beth Kilts, CDO Employment & Training Counselor

Job Fair Success!

CDO Workforce sponsored a Job Fair at the Southside Mall in Oneonta on Tuesday, August 29. We had positive feedback from the 26 Businesses who attended as well as the 51 Job seekers who signed in.

The following were actual quotes from Business Evaluations turned in at the end of the event:

"I thought there was a nice turnout. The candidates were stronger too. I think this one was better than the one with the giveaways a few months ago. "

"We thought it was great in every way! We were able to talk to quite a few people about a career with the New York State Police. Thank you for having us."

"Thank you for setting up the event once again. It was seamless as always. I don’t have any negative feedback. It was a good time of day. The flow of people was good. We had several good conversations with job seekers. We did receive two resumes, and had several people say they were going to apply on line."

"Great event yesterday! We setup three interviews and got a lot more foot traffic. We were able to network with local colleges and get on the list for some job fairs. Much better than the previous job fair and the time was excellent!"

And, I personally know two of my own customers who obtained employment as a direct result of attending this Job Fair!!

Submitted by Kathy DeAngelo

CDO Workforce - Success!

"KW"– Lost her retail grocery job in February 2023 due to a struggle with addiction. She came to CDO Workforce looking for job searching assistance, and feeling extremely low about herself. We assisted her with obtaining her birth certificate and social security card, so she could apply for Unemployment Insurance benefits.

KW came in every day determined to find employment and to stay in recovery.

A referral was made to FOR-DO in Norwich, and she went there and felt they were helpful and encouraging. Her transportation is her bike and she showed up every day to do her job search.  

We worked together on her resume and applied every day to jobs. It took 5 months for her to get her unemployment benefits, she had to go to DSS for food stamps and Medicaid, which she did not want to do.

She was hired at a local grocery store at the beginning of August, she is still employed, riding her bike there and she is staying in recovery. She could not thank CDO Workforce enough for assisting her and believing in her 😊

CONGRATULATIONS, KW!!

Submitted by Norwich CDO Workforce Employment & Training Coordinator Teresa Palmer

Oneonta CDO Workforce Volunteers at Saturday's Bread

The CDO Workforce Oneonta Office continues to volunteer at Saturday's Bread on the 4th Saturday of every month. This local feeding program provides both delivered meals to homebound folks as well as a hot, in-person meal every Saturday at the First Methodist Church in Oneonta. As you can see, not even a broken arm could stop the CDO team in August! Beth Kilts, Kathy DeAngelo & Penny Seeger!!

Submitted by Kathy DeAngelo

“IF I CAN DO IT, YOU CAN DO IT” –AM’S STORY

BY: KATHY DEANGELO, SR. EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING COUNSELOR

The following success story didn’t happen overnight or even over a year. This 3-year journey really illustrates the work of the Disability Resource Counselor (DRC) and the collaboration of other human service agencies as well as the Dept. of Labor Business Services Representative at CDO Workforce. And the title for this success story comes from my customer himself—he entitled a Facebook video that he has shared publicly about his own successful journey!

AM, a 36-yr. old SSDI/SSI beneficiary first appeared at CDO in September of 2020, requesting assistance reentering the workforce after 10+ years. He had some short-term work assignments through Rehabilitative Support Services (RSS) in maintenance, but he was looking for a career with stable employment. He was confident he was ready to go back to work. However, he had no Driver’s License, no transportation. Limited work history and only a HS diploma. AM assigned his Ticket to Work (TTW) to New York Employment Services System (NYESS) and we planned his return to the workforce.

Utilizing Ticket to Work funds, AM was able to get his driver’s permit, driving lessons, 5-hr. course and his NYS Driver’s license in about 5 months. We referred him to a front desk clerk job at a local hotel and he was hired. At time, AM received his COVID stimulus payment and, with family help, secured his own used vehicle. The job unfortunately ended after about 4 weeks and he was devastated. AM was able to return to part-time work for RSS as a Transporter in Fall ’21 as he had a driver’s license. He discovered how much he loved to drive and felt it was a good career path for him. He was happy with his part-time work and exited from workforce services.

AM returned to CDO in July of 2022 to report that he resigned from his job due to lack of hours. He said he wanted to find a “real career”. He reenrolled in services and was interested in pursuing his CDL-B bus driver license and getting off SSI/SSDI. When he found out that he would have to attend school due to new regulations, he decided to seek FT employment as a driver first. An Integrated Resource Team (IRT) meeting was held with AM, the DOL Business Services Representative and DRC DeAngelo to discuss local driving and training possibilities. AM applied to several jobs and was hired as a Van Driver job for a local organization in November 2022.

AM was no longer in payment status for his SSA benefits by February 2023 due to this employment. He had purchased a new car and was waiting for his employer to train him for a CDL-B bus license. They paid for his Department of Transportation (DOT) physical and his CDL-B permit. However, after learning about the cost and length that the new training regulations would require, the employer decided not to provide the training and seek a fully-licensed bus driver. AM was let go at the end of February 2023. 

DRC DeAngelo and AM met and immediately began to seek funding for the bus driver training through DCMO BOCES. The CDL-B Passenger training was a new course being offered in addition to their school bus driver training. The funds were authorized and AM began the online training portion of his studies in March 2023.

While AM struggled with car breakdowns and BOCES struggled with getting an instructor in place, in-person training began in June 2023. TTW Support Service funds were utilized to provide gas cards for AM to attend training. AM took his Road Test on August 2023 and passed his CDL-B test with both Passenger and School Bus endorsements.  

AM’s employment goal was to drive locally. The DOL Business Services Manager had a Job Fair scheduled for the following afternoon and the Personnel Manager of a local company that needed drivers was listed as a business attendee! We immediately got AM into our offices, updated his resume and provided a gas card for him to go to DMV to get his new CDL-B license. He attended the Job Fair later that afternoon, was introduced to the Personnel Manager, completed an application, was scheduled for an interview and has been hired as a trainee!

CONGRATULATIONS, AM!!

“Your Dream, Your Team” Website: A Toolkit to

Help Job Seekers with Disabilities

The Your Dream, Your Team website is a resource to help improve career exploration and employment for job seekers with disabilities, with an emphasis on outcomes for youth with disabilities (ages 14-24).

The website offers useful tools, guidance, forms, and other resources to support job seekers with disabilities and the individuals and organizations who support them, including community-based organizations, employment counselors, Disability Resource Coordinators, and parents who want to introduce their child to a career pathway and prepare them for a stable, long-term career.

The site also offers a variety of resources for businesses that are designed to help businesses learn how to be more inclusive and support employees with disabilities.

Explore the Your Dream, Your Team website!

Your Dream, Your Team was developed by CDO Workforce, Hempstead Works, Tompkins County Workforce, and Change Impact with guidance from the DEI team at the New York State Department of Labor.

Email Sommer

Businesses: Our New York College Apprenticeship Network (NYCAN) Grant Can Help You Upskill Your Workforce

The Workforce Development Board of Herkimer, Madison & Oneida (WDB/HMO) has partnered with the NYCAN (NY College Apprenticeship Network) grant to reimburse on-the-job training costs for advanced manufacturing companies that have less than 50 employees and a registered apprentice program. 

Wages can be reimbursed at 50% up to $25 an hour for six months of on-the-job training (OJT) with minimum paperwork.

The undirected funding provides many benefits for small to medium-sized manufacturing companies and ensures the apprentice is trained in accordance with the company’s standards and procedures.

If you would like to know how your company can take advantage of this funding or know of a company that would benefit, please contact Meghan McBennett at mmcbennett@working-solutions.org. 

Workforce Development Board

Learning/Training Grant Programs for Job Seekers and Incentives for Businesses

Many of these programs are available in up to 17 counties across New York State! There are business incentives and training opportunities in Manufacturing, IT/Cybersecurity and more...

Go Here to See our Learning/Training Grant Programs

And Contact Us to Find out how we can help!

Open to the Public!

Learn More/See Attending Businesses/Pre-Register

**Resume critique available to attending job seekers on Oct. 3rd.**

Learn more about our Out-of-School Youth Program

Send an Email

EMAIL Deborah

SUNY Delhi's Office of Continuing Education and Professional Studies: Opportunity for individuals to earn certification in the following Business and IT Programs - Costs covered by the Project Excite Grant! 

This program is 100% funded by Project Excite, a United States Department of Labor H-1B One Workforce Grant. Individuals who are at least 18 years old, with at least a high school level education, and are NYS residents are able to be funded up to $3,000 per person toward earning certifications in the IT field, to be completed no later than May 2024. 

The following courses and their certifications that we offer are all 100% online and are all eligible for this grant! Interested individuals should fill out the H-1B Grant Program Registration and, once approved, we will contact you and register you for your selected course. Visit https://www.delhi.edu/ceps/project-excite/index.php for full course descriptions, prerequisites, and requirements.

To start the enrollment process, register online for the Project Excite (IT/Cybersecurity Training Funding) Grant: www.joinprojectexcite.com 

Please contact the Office of Continuing Education and Professional Studies with any questions about this excellent opportunity! 607-746-4545 or email Project Excite at cdoworkforce@gmail.com

Project Excite Funded Training Available:

• Certified Ethical Hacker 
• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
• CompTIA Certification Training Network+, Security+
• CompTIA Certification Training: A+ Network +, Security+
• CompTIA A+ with ITIL Foundation Certification
• Information Security Training
• IC3 Digital Literacy GS5 (Vouchers Included) 
• CompTIA Project+ (Voucher Included) 
• CompTIA IT Fundamentals (Voucher Included) ** 
• CompTIA Certification Training: ITF+ and A+ (Vouchers Included) ** 
• Cisco CCNA Certification Training (Voucher Included) ** 
• Certified Network Defender (CND) (Voucher Included) 
• CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ (Voucher Included) ** 
• Certified AWS Cloud Practitioner (Voucher Included) ** 
• Certified AWS SysOps Administrator (Voucher Included) 
• Certified AWS Developer (Voucher Included) 
• Certified AWS Solutions Architect (Voucher Included) 
• AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (Voucher Included) 
• AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator (Voucher Included) 
• AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies (Voucher Included) 
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) (Voucher Included) 
• Certified Java Developer (Voucher Included) ** 
• CompTIA A+ Certification Training (Vouchers Included) ** 
• CompTIA Network+ Certification Training (Voucher Included) 
• CompTIA Security+ Certification Training (Voucher Included) 
• CompTIA Cloud+ Certification Training (Voucher Included) 
• CompTIA A+ with ITIL 4 Foundation (Vouchers Included) 
• IT Foundations Bundle (Vouchers Included) ** 
• CompTIA Linux+ (Voucher Included) 
• CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) (Voucher Included) 
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) 
• CompTIA CySA+ Training Boot Camp
• CompTIA Security+ Training Boot Camp
• CompTIA A+ Training Boot Camp **
• CompTIA Network+ Training Boot Camp

** Training is appropriate for students without IT work experience.

This program is 100% funded by a United States Department of Labor H1-B One Workforce Grant of $3,206,002. This product was created by the recipient and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, expressed or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability or ownership. This product is copyrighted by the institution that created it.

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