NHN Looks to Fill Shoes of State Job-Training Program

During last week's Assembly budget committee hearing, committee members learned that Gov. Chris Christie's new budget would lead to less funding of the Department of Labor's job-training program Professional Services Group (PSG) so that the program could be reinvented. But since then the Neighbors Helping Neighbors group in River Edge has stepped up and offered their own services to help those members left in a lurch.

"NhN is ready to help fill in the gap," founder John Fugazzie said. "I know many of our NhN members are also PSG members and want to extend a welcome to the PSG members to attend NhN meetings. NhN will only get better with more members and more volunteers helping build our network of libraries."

According to a report in the Star Ledger, the PSG which had 12 meeting locations has an annual cost of $900,000 to operate, which includes the salary of a full-time coordinator.

Fugazzie has stated that NHN will now look to set up new meeting locations in libraries where large clusters of of PSG members live. PSG had locations set up in towns such as Bayonne, Camden, Dover, Hackensack, to as far south as Neptune, New Brunswick, Trenton and Vineland.

As of last week, Dover PSG Facilitator Elana Collins was waiting on more information on how NHN could best be of assistance to her PSG membership.

"I would like to discuss how to help each other, but I’m waiting for more information," Collins wrote to the NHN facebook page. "I believe in miracles…Next week I will have a clearer picture where we stand."

PSG is considered New Jersey’s One-Stop Career Center to provide job-seekers with the tools and support they need in their search for employment, which is similar to NHN's mission statement. The lone difference is that PSG is state-funded while NHN is purely volunteer led.

"While NhN is a different format job search group we are very similar to the mission of the PSG, to assist our members in finding jobs," Fugazzie. "Our growth as been amazing and our success rate even better. NhN is going to make a major effort to set up new locations to accomodate those dislocated job seekers...offering weekly support group meetings are a major help to job seekers, the training and instructional programs of PSG are very good and needed by many."

The state-funded PSG’s will be closed later this month and reintroduced in July with a new name- "job clubs."

A petition on SignOn.org was recently created to urge Gov. Christie, the state Assembly and state Senate to stop the funding cuts and elimination of the statewide training programs for the unemployed of New Jersey like the Professional Services Group. It has so far reached 373 signatures.