Families In Transition Receives $19,000 From Lincoln Financial Foundation

Families in Transition (FIT), a nonprofit in Manchester, has received a $19,000 grant from Lincoln Financial Foundation. The money will be used to hire a consultant to create an Employment Learning Collaborative of key workforce training and employment stakeholders who will work to improve employment outcomes for both FIT clients as well as other homeless, low income, and vulnerable populations.

In 2014, with previous grant support from Lincoln Financial Foundation, FIT led a project to determine employment barriers faced by adults on TANF, single parents, under-educated, and/or under-employed people in the state. They identified new strategies to better assist low wage workers to gain a foothold and advance in the labor market. As a result of the initial work, a report, “Addressing Structural and Individual Barriers to Employment Readiness in New Hampshire” was published and is located atwww.fitnh.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/FIT_finalreport-FORMATTED.pdf. The report identifies several structural improvements to the employment system in New Hampshire as well as the need to create a statewide learning collaborative to work on the barriers identified.

Through this second Lincoln Financial Foundation grant, FIT has hired Jessica Santos, research associate at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., to help lead 12-15 people from five to seven different organizations to form the collaborative.They will focus on employment and workforce innovation to enhance the state’s current landscape of employment programs. Final outcomes from the collaborative are anticipated near the end of 2015.

“We recognize that our program participants face many challenges obtaining and retaining quality jobs that pay a living wage,” said Maureen Beauregard, president and founder of Families in Transition. “We’re incredibly appreciative of Lincoln Financial Foundation for recognizing the issue and helping us bring together a core group of knowledgeable stakeholders in the field of employment services to help make needed improvement to reduce barriers to employment for low-income people.”

“Our hope is that by supporting an intentional, systemic approach to employment and workforce innovation we can help make long-term inroads in providing employment opportunity for low-income workers,” said Byron Champlin, program officer for Lincoln Financial Foundation.

For more information about FIT and its related entities, visit www.fitnh.org or call 603-641-9441.