Building Skills Partnership

The Building Skills Partnership received an $80,000 grant to continue providing training for janitors and other building service workers by providing vocational English classes at leading Silicon Valley companies. As a result of this generous grant, the BSP will be able to provide vocational English as a Second Language training to 125 property service workers.

To read full press release click here

On December 2, 2011 Building Skills Partnership held its First Annual Health Fair in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente. Over 60 members and their families received health information on diabetes, nutrition, and received free screenings provided by Kaiser Permanente such as glucose, cholesterol, BMI, blood pressure, and flu shots.  Other health community groups such as Centro Cultural which provides recreational courses for the whole family offered wellness resources. All participants enjoyed nutritious snacks and got to participate in a raffle where they won prices for being proactive with their health.  Overall, participants enjoyed themselves and received valuable tools that will help them maintain healthier life styles.

We invite you all to BSP’s class graduations in San Jose this Saturday, December 17^th from 11am-1pm at the San Jose office. Students from both Friday and Saturday Computer Literacy classes will be recognized with certificates for their participation in the course. ESL classes in San Jose will be extended through the Spring, but ESL students will be a part of the celebration as well with a holiday potluck.

When: Saturday, December 17^th from 11:00am – 1:00pm

Location: 1010 Ruff Drive, San Jose, CA 95110

For more information contact Madeleine Case at madeleine@buildingskills.org or (408)280-5329.

We invite you all to BSP’s class graduations in Oakland this Saturday the 17^th from 10:30am – 12:00pm at the Oakland office. Please see the attached invitation for additional details. At the graduation, we will be recognizing students who have participated in or completed our Computer Literacy and/or ESL classes this Fall. As always, we will be recognizing students with certificates, and will have a celebration complete with a potluck, a raffle, and presentations from students.

When: Saturday, December 17^th from 10:30am – 12:00pm

Location: 3411 East 12^th St. Suite. 200, Oakland, CA 94601

For more information contact Kareen Kanjo at kareen@buildingskills.org or (510) 437-8116.

To view invitation, click below:

Invitation to Class Graduation in Oakland 12.17.11

BSP’s closing of the digital divide through computer classes for janitors in Silicon Valley was featured on December 9, 2011 on Radio Bilingue “Noticiero Latino”.  Radio Bilingue is a network of radio stations with news, community information, and music and cultural programming in Spanish. During the broadcast, our student Roman Gonzalez describes his need learn to use computers, which he used to fear damaging as he cleaned desks as a janitor, to apply for a new job. Also, our former student and now volunteer Miguel Cadena, describes how he can now help his daughter with their homework on the computer and why he is now volunteering to teach computers to other immigrant parents.

To listen to the interview click here: Radio Bilingue Interview

On Saturday, August 27th, the BSP in collaboration with SEIU-USWW and Kaiser Permanente held a Health and Back to School Fair in Los Angeles. Attendees were able to receive different services and information on how they can better their health, your life, and how they can get more involved in your children’s education. More than 200 individuals participated in the health fair, and 0ver 90 backpacks with school supplies were distributed to children.

During Google’s Volunteer week, over 50 janitors and Google employee volunteers were thanked for their participation in a pilot tutoring program at a night-time event June 16^th hosted by Google’s Facilities Director and ABM. For over three months, tutoring pairs met at least once a week for individualized tutoring. Google employee, Sassi  Morales Diaz Ordaz, spoke at the event about how rewarding it has been for her to see the janitor she tutored progress from not writing to writing a six syllable word. The event also raised over $5,000 thanks to matching funds from Google for donations from their employees.

Catalyst, a publication by Microsoft’s Corporate Citizenship Program, featured an article highlighting the BSP as a model workforce development and training program. “Microsoft is pleased to partner with the BSP to support their efforts in workforce training and skills development. These efforts are aligned with Microsoft’s global effort to support improvement in the quality and access to education,” said Sid Espinosa, director of citizenship, Microsoft. “With unemployment rates at alarmingly high levels, we all need to work together to arm people with the skills they need to succeed in today’s changing economy.

Link to Full Article

The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) has awarded the BSP a grant totaling $210,000 to provide property service workers occupational and preventative general health trainings, health screenings or health fairs. In collaboration with employers, this funding will allow for the BSP to generate and implement  a leadership development model, also known as promotores/as, for health  and wellness training. The BSP is thankful to the TCWF  for its continued support in providing health and wellness training to property service workers throughout California.