•Work Study Students Run Summer Cafeteria

CalWORKs participants are required to fulfill a minimum of 32 hours of Welfare-to-Work activities. College work-study is often a major component of the CalWORKs students' Welfare-to-Work obligation. Seven work-study students made it possible for CCSF to operate a successful summer food service at the Phelan Campus for the first time in seven years. At the Downtown Campus another group of CalWORKs students blended into the Student Trainee and Hospitality Program performing similar tasks. They helped operate the Educated Palate food service and honed their skills in the profession.

Ed Hamilton, the Department Chair, said the students were excellent workers. They have made the difference in the operation of the summer food service program and he is delighted to have them. Cindy Hart, Chef and Program Manager/Instructor, said "They are the greatest. This is the first year since '93 that we have had a summer food service at Phelan. We could not have operated the program without them." Congratulations to all these students and thanks to the H & R and Hospitality Departments for your support in training and employing CalWORks students.

•Directly from Work Study To Work

Aime Cuevas moved to the United States from Havana, Cuba, a little over 2 years ago, with her two sons, ages 3 and 10. When she first arrived in this country, she spoke very little English so she enrolled in ESL classes at the Mission Campus. Her CCSF Counselor convinced her that she should take a few more classes and gain a skill that would make her more marketable and able to earn a higher salary. She settled on the Digital Printing & Publishing Program (Xerox Docutech) at the Mission Campus.

In just two semesters, Aime completed the digital printing classes and gained work experience while taking the classes as an intern at the City and County of San Francisco (City Hall) in the office of Reproduction and Mailing Service which runs three very busy Docutech digital printers. At the close of Aime's internship, she was enthusiastically hired for a full time position there. Aime loves her job at City Hall and loves working in digital printing and publishing, is proud of her skills that she now has and she is even happier that she earns good wages.

Sally Vaerma, Aime's boss said of her work: "Aime is a very good worker, she works hard, learns fast, and remembers what you tell her. But the best thing about Aime is that she is always cheerful and never complains."

•Work Experience In The Nursing Field

Kelly Provost completed the Certified Nurse Assistant program at City College of San Francisco in the fall of 2000. She was hired by Rhoda Goldman Assisted Living and then went on to be hired by San Francisco General Hospital in the acute care ward.

Kelly credits much of her successes in securing her jobs to the persistent help of Job Specialist Margarita Chavez at City College's Office of CalWORKs Education & Training . "Margarita was fantastic with helping me to write a resume and assisting me with my interview skills. In the process, I became very close to Margarita and admire her patience and persistance". Kelly loves her job as a nursing assistant. Some of her responsibilities include taking patient's vitals, taking patients to their x-ray or lab appointments, bed changes, collecting and delivering specimens to the doctors or labs, and preparing and stocking supplies in rooms for new patients.

Kelly says she owes much to the instructors and staff at the Nursing Assistant program at the CCSF Southeast Campus and feels that this program was a major turning point in her life. She said she learned a lot and made many friends there. Her educational experience at City College of San Francisco was so positive and rewarding that her future plans include continuing her education by entering the CCSF LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) program.