Transgender job training program fast-tracked after attacks
A new D.C. program that teaches job-seeking skills to transgender people and then pays some of their salaries for up to six months was fast-tracked by Mayor Vincent Gray after violence against transsexuals escalated this summer.
The program is run through Project Empowerment, an $11 million-a-year program paid for with D.C. tax dollars that helps hard-to-employ city residents such as ex-convicts and ex-addicts find work. Project Empowerment is a decade old, but Director Charles Jones said only four transgender individuals had enrolled before a class was formed specifically for them.
In July, the District saw two shootings within 11 days, prompting a meeting in August between the mayor and transgender activists. Weeks later, the plan was finalized to enroll a transgender class at Project Empowerment and work with local organizations to help recruit students.
The goal is to show the community D.C.'s resources are available to them too, Jones said. A second transgender-only class may be in the works for February.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
A new D.C. program that teaches job-seeking skills to transgender people and then pays some of their salaries for up to six months was fast-tracked by Mayor Vincent Gray after violence against transsexuals escalated this summer.
The program is run through Project Empowerment, an $11 million-a-year program paid for with D.C. tax dollars that helps hard-to-employ city residents such as ex-convicts and ex-addicts find work. Project Empowerment is a decade old, but Director Charles Jones said only four transgender individuals had enrolled before a class was formed specifically for them.
In July, the District saw two shootings within 11 days, prompting a meeting in August between the mayor and transgender activists. Weeks later, the plan was finalized to enroll a transgender class at Project Empowerment and work with local organizations to help recruit students.
The goal is to show the community D.C.'s resources are available to them too, Jones said. A second transgender-only class may be in the works for February.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
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