Due to federal funding reductions, the Pawtucket netWORKri One-Stop Career Center located at 175 Main Street will cease operations after Thursday, September 6, 2012. Customers are advised to frequent the Providence, Woonsocket, West Warwick and Wakefield netWORKri locations for a full complement of job-search services.
For directions, bus routes and workshop information, please visit www.networkri.org.
Department of Labor and Training Director Charles J. Fogarty states, "The Pawtucket netWORKri center is a valuable community resource, and the decision to close the office was very difficult. However, as a state agency, we have a fiscal responsibility to operate within our current budget and we no longer have the funding needed to continue operations at the Main Street location."
The Pawtucket center was originally slated for closure in April of this year, but efforts made by Governor Chafee and Mayor Grebien allowed the department to continue operations at the Main Street site though this summer.
Fogarty also praises the state's Office of Library & Information Services (OLIS) for their willingness to collaborate with the department on job-search service alternatives, such as providing public computer access to the state's virtual career center, EmployRI.org.
The netWORKri One-Stop System has partnered with OLIS and the Pawtucket Public Library at 13 Summer Street to offer regularly scheduled job seeker workshops over the next year. The workshops, held at the library computer lab and led by netWORKri staff, are free to the public and require pre-registration at (401) 725-3714 x 200. A listing of September offerings is as follows:
> Thursday, Sept. 6, 10 a.m. - noon: Résumé Writing
> Tuesday, Sept. 11, 10 a.m. - noon: Interviewing Skills
> Thursday, Sept. 13, 10 a.m. - noon: Mock Interview (prerequisite: Interviewing Skills)
> Tuesday, Sept. 18, 10 a.m. - noon: EmployRI
> Thursday, Sept. 20, 10 a.m. - noon: EmployRI en Español
> Tuesday, Sept. 25, 10 a.m. - noon: LinkedIn, Part I
> Thursday, Sept. 27, 10 a.m. - noon: LinkedIn, Part II (prerequisite: LinkedIn, Part I)
Staff members currently working at the Pawtucket netWORKri location will be reassigned to other one-stop locations after September 6th. Customers already assigned to a career advisor may chose to continue to work with that advisor at his or her new netWORKri location, or they may request a new advisor at the netWORKri location most convenient to them.
The netWORKri One-Stop Career Centers offer employment services to both job seekers and employers and are managed and operated by the RI Department of Labor and Training, a netWORKri partner. Other netWORKri partners include Workforce Solutions of Providence/Cranston; the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island; the RI Dept. of Education; the RI Dept. of Human Services; the RI Dept. of Elderly Affairs; the RI Dept. of Children, Youth and Families; the RI Dept. of Corrections; the Office of Rehabilitation Services; Goodwill Industries; and SER-Jobs for Progress. For more information on resources and available programs, visit www.networkri.org.