The Career Support Network

The big picture

The Career Support Network is a new partnership that connects employment and health with the goal of helping people retain their jobs and advance in their careers. The Network links skills training, career coaching, and behavioral and physical health services in a holistic approach to combat barriers to employment for low-skilled adults.

The problem

For Philadelphia’s low-skilled adults, finding a job with family-sustaining wages is only the first hurdle on the path to economic stability. Barriers to retaining employment include physical and mental health problems, demands of meeting family needs, lack of adequate transportation, and a lack of peer support. Current workforce programs fund training and placement services to get individuals into jobs, but few support the empowerment and counseling services to ensure newly-employed individuals keep and advance in their jobs.

The solution

The Career Support Network will provide a set of supports and skills to newly working adults through the creation of an integrated network of occupational counseling, mental and physical health services, career counseling and peer support. All of these services will be housed in one-stop local neighborhood centers in North and South Philadelphia to promote service integration for the convenience of CSN participants.

Partners

The Career Support Network of Philadelphia will be managed by the Federation of Neighborhood Centers in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital.
Additional funders include the Thomas Scattergood Foundation , the Independence Foundation, the Boeing Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.