EPOCA

Employers: Did you know that your best option for hiring a highly dedicated and skilled employee may be to hire someone who has a criminal record? New Leaf is a program designed by workforce development professionals and former offenders to create opportunities for people to prove themselves. Applicants must attend a series of workshops and work one-on-one with a job counselor. Only when that counselor is confident that the applicant is the ideal match for an employer will she make the match. When the match is made, career center staff assist an employer in accessing a $2,400 per employee tax-credit and other tools to help the business and their new employee succeed together.

EPOCA members came together with the Workforce Central Career Center in Worcester to create this innovative program, and we are committed to helping it succeed and expand. Together we have successfully placed dozens of applicants in jobs they are well qualified for. Many of these people have gone on to become managers and supervisors, some of the most hard-working and committed leaders our business partners have ever hired.

We are currently in negotiations with career centers in other parts of the state who want to adopt the New Leaf program. The key is whether a center has the resources to reach out intensively to employers and develop the partnerships needed for the program. Without these partnerships, there is no New Leaf.

Applicants: If you are looking to work hard, and are willing to demonstrate it, and if you live in the vicinity of Worcester, Massachusetts, call Workforce Central Career Center to sign up for the New Leaf program.

Please contact EPOCA or Workforce Central for more details about New Leaf.

EPOCA: (508) 410-7676

Workforce Central Career Center: (508) 799-1600