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New employment program through Community Futures

A new provincial employment program will be launched on Apr. 2, 2012.

A new provincial employment program will be launched on Apr. 2, 2012.

Called the Employment Program of B.C., it will replace 10 existing provincial and federally transferred employment programs in the province and will be delivered through WorkBC Employment Services Centres.

“We’ve been operating that program for a past number of years actually, but provincially what happened was all the programs were under one roof,” explained Wendy McCulloch, general manager at Community Futures Boundary. “Before there were many programs and some communities, under many different agencies.”

The Ministry of Social Development issued a Request for Proposals to deliver the new Employment Program of British Columbia in February 2010.

Community Futures applied for the program and was named the successful proponent for Grand Forks Catchment Area #49, also known as the Boundary region.

“In this particular community, we’ve been offering a good percentage of the programs,” said McCulloch.

Sandy Elzinga, employment services and project management at Community Futures, added that current programs included employment assistance services, wage subsidies and self-development.

The new program will be available province-wide to all residents in B.C.

“There will be a number of programs for persons with a disability or any unemployed Canadian can access services from this organization,” stated McCulloch. “One of the good things about it is that it it’s a five-year contract with the province, so there is some stability in the contract.”

Community Futures has two offices, one in Grand Forks for residents in the Boundary Region and a second in Greenwood for those in West Boundary.

For more information on WorkBC Employment Services Centre, visit labourmarketservices.gov.bc.ca.