The inaugural class of Serve Here CT kicked off this fall.
The program founded by Alva Greenberg of Old Saybrook allows millennials to help build a sense of community and social capital while also helping them with the cost of education.
“Connecticut is experiencing a brain drain,” Tom Gullotta, chief adviser of Serve Here CT, said. “Well-educated individuals are fleeing the state for other parts of the country, which will offer more opportunity."
The hope of the program is not only to help young adults build their careers right at home but to encourage them to help grow our local communities.
Serve Here CT partners with local non-profits to create jobs for its participants- organizations such as Safe Futures in New London.
Executive Director of Safe Futures Cathy Zeiner said she hired Amanda Boaz to improve on fundraising and the group's volunteer work.
Boaz found support through Safe Futures after leaving an abusive marriage.
Local
"Part of my healing was to give back and to find meaning in my life,” said Boaz, a member of the Serve Here CT inaugural class. “I didn't want to just be. I wanted to do."
In just nine months, Boaz has done wonders for the non-profit that helped her just four years ago, all while going to school part-time to finish her associates degree.
Serve Here CT helps supplement the cost of furthering education by granting each participant $10,000.
"She's created some energy and a fresh perspective in our work,” said Zeiner. “That's what we need to keep our agency energized and to keep our mission moving forward."
"I think what's been really great is the opportunity to meet with a lot of other people that I would not have had the opportunity to meet," Boaz explained. "Working here I don't have to be the victim anymore. I can be a survivor and I can start to thrive."
Serve Here CT is now accepting applications for the next class.
