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Working It

Clockwise from left: Maryland Chamber Foundation Teacher Extern Ipsita Ghosh (r.) with Mallory Kopp, Talent Acquisition Specialist at DAP; Maryland Chamber Foundation Teacher Extern Steven Hensley (l.) and Bobby Burkhart at Potomac Edison; Sean Scott, Maryland New Directions 2020 MTDL program graduate and 2020 MVP honoree. Photo Credits: Maryland Chamber Foundation, Potomac Edison and Maryland New Directions.
Clockwise from left: Maryland Chamber Foundation Teacher Extern Ipsita Ghosh (r.) with Mallory Kopp, Talent Acquisition Specialist at DAP; Maryland Chamber Foundation Teacher Extern Steven Hensley (l.) and Bobby Burkhart at Potomac Edison; Sean Scott, Maryland New Directions 2020 MTDL program graduate and 2020 MVP honoree. Photo Credits: Maryland Chamber Foundation, Potomac Edison and Maryland New Directions.

Finding a job is a chore. With limited skills .. no business contacts ... or with a criminal record … the road to employment becomes an obstacle course. Maryland New Directions provides training, coaching and placement to clear away barriers. Sean Scott, a former client, recalls the moment he read an ad that changed his life:

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a felon, it doesn't matter if you’re homeless, we’re here to provide job training for you, and it just stuck out to me because I wanna do right and here’s this place they’re gonna train me, where I could go and potentially make some good money.”

Plus, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce pairs teachers with businesses … so they can bring what they learn in the workplace back into their high-school classrooms.

Links: Maryland Chamber Foundation Externship program, Maryland New Directions.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'