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CWE Opens New Educational Site
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 Workers
from all over New York City are flocking to the Consortium for
Worker Education’s new training facilities in Lower Manhattan to
advance in their careers and gain new certifications.
“We are conveniently located,” says Health Care Initiatives Program
Manager Sonia Torruella. “But we are also mobile, providing
training in the field to meet the needs of workers.”
At the new facilities, which opened in March, CWE partners with
labor unions to develop classes for those looking to succeed in
today’s economy. SEIU 1199 members come for preparatory classes for
new certification exams, including surgical technology courses in
the simulated operating rooms. In sleek computer labs, Office and
Professional Employees International Union members are learning
basic and advanced computer skills. Union members who have been
displaced from their jobs, including those from recently closed
hospitals, come to CWE to build their resumes and learn
interviewing skills to reenter the job market.
As workplaces change, it is easy for employees to fall behind. This
partnership between CWE and the city’s labor unions ensures that
New York’s workers are staying at the forefront of their fields.
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 Make
the Road New York is an organization known for building power for
immigrants in New York.
That organizing philosophy extends to Make the Road’s Worker Service Center
programs. In its Community Health Worker training program, participants
are learning more than just the skills for a career in healthcare, they
are learning how to address the root cause of healthcare problems.
New Yorkers come from all over the city to participate in the training,
which has graduated dozens of community health workers over the past
three years. Community health workers combine education, patient
advocacy, and counseling to give higher risk patients the complete
support they need to stay healthy.
The twelve-week training and 100-hour internship give students the
skills to tackle the wide range of jobs that community health workers
can have. And at the end of the internship, Make the Road helps place
students into great careers.
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Participant
Profile: Rosa Cecilia
Argudo Vasconez
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 Many
New Yorkers can relate to Rosa Vasconez. An immigrant and a mother,
Rosa struggled to find a good job and could not afford to pay for new
training. That changed when she found Make the Road New York’s
Community Health Worker training program.
Rosa was drawn to working as a community health worker because it
meant she could help other immigrants like herself. She remembers a
time when she too had trouble communicating with her children’s
doctors and understanding how to stay healthy.
Rosa’s community health worker training lasted 12 intensive weeks,
where she learned how to guide patients through difficult medical
situations. Make the Road also helped Rosa write a resume and cover
letter, and practiced job interviews.
She interned at Woodhull Medical Center, educating Spanish-speaking
patients and their families about how to manage asthma. She would
even follow up with families after they left the hospital to
encourage healthy habits. She did so well that Woodhull hired her on,
permanently.
While she loves the impact that she is having in her community, the
experience has been just as beneficial for Rosa personally. She
has a good job to provide for her family, and a renewed confidence in
herself.
Rosa says that where you come from cannot be a barrier to what you
can accomplish. “I want my daughters to see me as an example that
there are no limitations.”
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