BOOST: Skills Training
Building Ongoing Opportunities through Skills Training (BOOST) is a workforce development and onsite employment program designed to prepare graduates for sustainable careers or entrepreneurship opportunities.
Through BOOST, Zaman provides a safe and secure place where marginalized women can attain the education, life skills, and experience needed to earn sustainable income through employment or by starting their own business. The program is designed for women who are ready to pursue further education and training after entering Zaman's Bayt Al Zahra (BAZ) basic needs and social work program.
Empowering Women Through Sustainable Careers
Started in 2009, BOOST empowers women to seek self-reliance and break the cycle of extreme poverty by developing their talents and entrepreneurship skills in a way that can accommodate the challenges often created by motherhood and raising a family. This is achieved through a holistic approach with culturally sensitive programs and resources designed specifically for female heads of household facing additional barriers to employment such as low literacy, lack of English proficiency, childcare, and transportation.
BOOST provides vocational training in sewing and culinary arts in state-of-the-art facilities. The classes help clients secure the skill sets and industry certifications while providing the holistic support needed to successfully enter the job market or start a small business. It also offers classes in English as a second language, pre-GED, entrepreneurship, financial and health literacy, mental wellness, and job readiness that help provide the soft skills needed to thrive in the workforce.
Training programs typically run on an academic calendar from September to May with a fall and winter cohort.
BOOST PROGRAMS
Garment and Industrial Sewing
Vocational sewing offers multiple tracks that allow students to learn at the speed that works best for them and pursue employment suited to their interests and aptitudes. The first track is for those seeking entrepreneurship or small business opportunities as a professional tailor and is best suited for women who prefer to secure sustainable income working out of their home. The second is designed to train students seeking employment in high-demand jobs in industrial sewing.
Students have access to numerous training, apprenticeship, and employment opportunities in Zaman’s sewing factory or through Zaman facilitated commissioned entrepreneurial projects
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Culinary Arts and Rising Hope Bakery
Using two state-of-the-art commercial kitchens, the culinary arts programming provides the training students need to pursue careers in the restaurant and hospitality industries or launch their own small business or food-based entrepreneurial venture. Graduates will have the skills employers seek to provide the best possible food experiences and products.
A limited number of onsite employment opportunities are available for BOOST graduates at Zaman’s Rising Hope Bakery, which provides catering services and products for sale that generate revenue for workforce development and employment programs.
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