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Towards Employment has been committed to giving Clevelanders a chance to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency through employment for over 40 years. We provide career planning, coaching and skill-building through work experience and technical training so workers can succeed in their current job and then advance along a career pathway. We also provide critical supports to ensure their success along the way, including transportation, uniforms and legal assistance.
Towards Employment is able to provide career services and chances to advance through the generosity of supporters like you.
Presented by The Modern Warrior Experience & Towards Employment
June 17th at the East Cleveland Public Library: Greg L. Reese Performing Arts Center
Dominick Farinacci, international jazz artist, Cleveland native and co-creator of Modern Warrior LIVE, is partnering with Towards Employment to create a live performance and multi-media work collaborating with six individuals with involvement in the criminal justice system who faced barriers to finding jobs and careers. This world-premiere performance is made possible by a grant from the Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation and features stories of six Clevelanders, using Modern Warrior LIVE’s innovative and immersive model of storytelling, music and multimedia. This is the first work-focused performance in a series of storytelling collaborations through Modern Warrior LIVE’s collaborative program called the Modern Warrior EXPERIENCE.
Dominick co-created the national touring production Modern Warrior LIVE, an immersive music and narrative experience that chronicles the story of US Army veteran Jaymes Poling and his journey through three deployments in Afghanistan and subsequent transition back home. As the production provides a catalyst for meaningful conversation about stigma, mental health, post-traumatic growth, and resiliency, Farinacci and Poling began to see through lines that connected veteran stories to those of returning citizens or people with involvement in the criminal justice system.
“Stigma often creates barriers to communication that leave so many of us feeling isolated and unable to share the struggles we face. In doing this, we risk further separating from the communities that can most help us heal,” says Poling.
“With the Modern Warrior EXPERIENCE, we strive to tear down those barriers to communication, allowing individuals to share the unfiltered reality of their journey, and in doing so carve a path for others hoping for a better tomorrow,” says Farinacci.
We are continuing to connect participants and graduates to resources and supportive services. Just as our workshop has gone virtual, so have our volunteer opportunities!
Current opportunities include:
Mock interviewing, social media ambassadors, step up cheerleaders, outreach ambassadors, community clean up assistance, and civic engagement & advocacy volunteers.
Check out some of the great highlights of the night with our photo gallery!
CAREER PATHWAY PRESENTER
EMPLOYMENT CONNECTOR
ADVANCEMENT LEADER
LIFE STABILITY CHEERLEADER
TRAINING ADVOCATE
Towards Employment is awarding our 4th TE Hometown Hero Award to University Hospitals Rainbow Ahuja Women & Children's Center.
This award honors an organization or person who is making an impact in our community by elevating and addressing issues that impact the individuals served by the TE mission.
This year, we will honor the intentional work that UH Rainbow Ahuja Center for Women & Children is doing both in the Midtown neighborhoods and extending into the City - work that lifts up and answers health care concerns and needed connections of many of the people we also serve. In the Superior/St. Clair, Midtown neighborhoods and beyond, UH Rainbow Ahuja Center for Women & Children is an anchor organization, a valued authentic partner, and a lifeline for so many Clevelanders.
This year the even committee is led by co-chairs Carrie Rosenfelt and Grace Heffernan. Honorary Co-Chairs are Micki Byrnes and Shelly Peet will be presenting the award tonight.
Committee Members
Carrie Rosenfelt & Grace Heffernan
Co-Chairs
Dan Arian
Brenda Brown
Ronnie Cannon
Timothy Chai
Joan Crosby
Laura Desmond
Marie Eslick
Brooke Hodge
Karen Jones
Megan Killagallon
Bola Majekodunmi
Melissa Majka
Sara McCarthy
Amanda Pacanovsky
Jill Rizika
Sandi Rosado
Adaora Schmiedl
Robin Smalley
Elizabeth Smith
Erron Toppin
Micki Byrnes & Shelly Peet
Honorary Co-Chairs