The Alex House Project provides services to pregnant and parenting mothers ages 15-25 who live in economically disadvantaged New York City neighborhoods. Its Train-the-Trainer is a 24-month workforce/leadership development program that trains young mothers to become entry level caseworkers. Once hired, the program participants receive classroom instruction, restorative justice instruction/healing, Spanish lessons, Microsoft training, and 12 weeks of field work. Participants act as Alex House frontline workers by teaching parenting classes and serving as mentors to other young mothers. Alex House’s Train-the-Trainer is not currently accredited by New York State, and without an official certificate from an accredited program, participants are at a disadvantage when they apply for jobs in the social and human services fields. Alex House Project’s proposed capacity-building plan is to hire a full-time social worker to update the current curriculum to better prepare participants. The social worker will also help Alex House develop partnerships with the Department of Health and/or an accredited institution to help the program achieve accreditation.
This grant will enable the Alex House Project to seeks state accreditation for its Train-the-Trainer program.
