Empowering Change: How Catholic Charities Boston is Shaping Careers in Healthcare

The program’s holistic approach to supporting students is central to its success, helping it maintain a 98% retention rate as it helps students overcome personal and professional challenges. De Sousa Lobo notes, “If a student cannot come to class anymore because life has changed and they have to find a job, for example, we always hold the spot for these students in case they come back. We actually encourage them to come back and finish their training.” 

Students also have access to a wide range of other services provided by Catholic Charities, from food pantries to childcare, ensuring they stay focused and supported during their training. “We want to make sure that they keep focusing on the training and successfully complete it, because we know for a fact that the best thing, we can do for anybody is to help them become self-sufficient,” De Sousa Lobo says. 

Along with the training, students receive individualized career coaching, which significantly increases their chances of employment. “This place is nice because you prepare for all the situations: interview, resume, everything, you have someone to help,” Esquerdo says, who now works at the Neville Center at Fresh Pond, Cambridge.  

The program also hosts a job fair after graduation, allowing students to connect with different employers and find the right fit for them. “The job fair was able to give me the knowledge to learn more about the different company benefits, which one works best for me, and also which one will allow me to grow as an employee and give me different opportunities,” Gomes De Almeida says, who accepted a job at South Shore Hospital.  

Catholic Charities maintains an open dialogue with each of its employers, making sure that the training is comprehensive and adequately prepares its participants for the workplace. “We have close relationships with the employers where we are placing students and get feedback from them on how they are doing and is the training aligning with their expectation and what they need to be seeing,” says Jacqueline Chernoble, Vice President of Adult Education and Workforce Development. “There is an ongoing feedback loop with our program director and managers and the teams at our employer partners.”  

The training now includes on-site state certification testing, which is critical for students seeking to work in hospitals and long-term care facilities. “When students take the training, they get certified, and then they can take the state test, which is a requirement from a lot of hospitals in order for them to work there on site,” De Sousa Lobo says. “This changed the game. We were able to create a robust, successful training program.”  

Upon completing the program, participants receive a Nursing Assistant Certification and a plan for continued career growth. “We are really looking to help folks think through their long-term planning and what their objectives are down the road, as well as what types of positions they might be interested in in the short term,” Chernoble says. 

De Sousa Lobo emphasized the importance of remaining connected to program participants after graduation: “We need to make sure they understand that they can always count on us. If they have doubts or they have questions, and if they need support. We’re always here to support them in this process.”  

Gomes De Almeida says she wants to go back to school and become a nurse, and she has remained in contact with De Sousa Lobo to create a plan and look at schools that would work for her. Esquerdo also highlighted the program’s eagerness to help her with any changes in her career: “They say, ‘If you need something, please let us help you.’ Because I work for a nursing home now, and they said, ‘If you want to go to a hospital, I’ll help you apply for a hospital,’” Esquerdo says.  

The program’s all-around support and career guidance, made possible through state funding, have been life changing for Gomes De Almeida. “I want to say a big thank you to the people who have funded this program,” Gomes De Almeida says. “I don’t know who they are, but they gave me opportunities to care for my family and to have a better income, and also to experience [working in] healthcare in general. It made me look at life with different perspectives.”  

Sustainable and predictable funding is essential for the continued success of workforce development programs like Catholic Charities’ healthcare training initiatives. “I think it’s really important that the state look at more consistent, predictable mechanisms to fund these programs,” Chernoble says. “There’s a lot of competition for WCTF right now, the number of applicants outpaces the available funds … Sustainable, scalable funding for in-demand positions is essential for programs to continue succeeding and addressing the complex needs of the people they serve.”  

De Sousa Lobo echos this statement, emphasizing that state funding allows Catholic Charities to bolster the workforce. “What we’re doing is training individuals to put them into the workforce,” De Sousa Lobo says. “We’re giving them skills that are necessary nowadays — industry skills like computer literacy, education, training so that they can perform their duties to the best of their ability. And that’s why we hold [CommCorp] very dear, because [its] support has been crucial in helping us perform our duties here.”