City College Partners With Community Organization To Host Summer Job Training

A group of 12 students are currently halfway through the Weekend Warriors program taking place at Richard J. Daley College in partnership with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). After completing the summer program, the students will have a basic certificate in welding. Photo Credit: City Colleges of Chicago
A group of 12 students are currently halfway through the Weekend Warriors program taking place at Richard J. Daley College in partnership with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). After completing the summer program, the students will have a basic certificate in welding. Photo Credit: City Colleges of Chicago

City College Partners With Community Organization To Host Summer Job Training

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Richard J. Daley College has partnered with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) to host the Weekend Warriors program where young men can earn a basic certificate in industrial welding and nine college credits by attending classes Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the summer.

The Weekend Warriors program is part of IMAN’s Green ReEntry program which provides transitional housing, life skills education, and sustainable job training for citizens returning from incarceration and high-risk youth in Chicago, according to information provided by IMAN.

“We worked with the IMAN organization to put together a creative schedule that would allow them to utilize our new advanced manufacturing facilities to provide welding training for a group of at-risk youth,” said David Girzadas, dean of the Advanced Manufacturing Program at Daley College.

The students who are participating in the Weekend Warriors program take 12-weeks of classes at Daley College that include a college success class, an introduction to welding class, and an intermediate welding class. When they are finished with the summer program, they will have the option of continuing their education at Daley College if they choose.

“We are here to serve the needs of the community, as well as our students and we have a great resource that we want to utilize in every way possible. When we had the opportunity to work with IMAN we thought it fit in perfectly with City College’s objectives to introduce students to college and get them started on reaching their goals and dreams and their potential,” said Girzadas.

Aside from the college-level training, participants also receive career and job placement services, behavioral health therapy, individual case management, artistic programming, select weekend excursions, transportation support, meals, and weekly stipends, according to information provided by City Colleges of Chicago.

There are currently 12 students in the Weekend Warriors program and they are about halfway through the summer program. For the most part, the students are committing their entire weekend to take classes at Daley College with classes from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

“IMAN has been a great partner and at first, they were very concerned about a lot of the details and support services and thinking through the schedule in addition to simply scheduling classes but we really work with them on all the details. We worked out transportation, the times of the classes, pickup and drop off points, meals, books, and all the details that go along with being successful,” said Girzadas. “We worked out all those details ahead of time which I think made the long effort that the students put in over the course of the weekend worth it for them.”

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