STRIVE DC

Mission & Services

STRIVE DC helps chronically unemployed people in the Washington, DC area transform their lives through employment. The program helps people find and keep employment through three programs. The first is the core STRIVE Job Readiness program through which participants receive job-readiness training, personal assistance in job placement and two years of supportive services. The training and two-year follow-up set STRIVE DC apart from other employment programs. Together they produce low-cost, fast entry into the workforce and high job retention rates. Second is the STRIVE For Success (SFS) fast-track GED program. This innovative program helps young DC residents, aged 16-25, quickly prepare for and earn their GED in a classroom style setting. The third program, Career Gear, provides professional clothing to men seeking work. All the services are provided free-of-charge to participants.

History & Goals

STRIVE DC was established in August 1999 to combat unemployment in Washington, DC and fill the void of effective programs seeking to accomplish this. Although independently funded and governed, STRIVE DC is one of a network of centers modeled after the acclaimed East Harlem, New York STRIVE employment program that promotes intens ethat was established in 1984.

Accomplishments

STRIVE DC works. Since opening in 1999, STRIVE DC has graduated over 1,600 people from its signature job readiness program! STRIVE DC trains graduates about 150 per year from job-readiness training; places over 60% of its graduates in jobs and keeps 60% of those who find jobs, working for at least two years. In 2010, the Strive for Success GED program enrolled just over 80 students of which 70% gained at least one grade level in math and/or reading. Twenty-four (24) students so far have gone on to earn their GED. Additionally, one graduate has completed basic training and another is enrolled in a four-year university. Career Gear has clothed over 400 men thus far in 2010.

Population Served

STRIVE DC’s clients are adults (16 and over) from the inner-city who may be school dropouts, have troubled backgrounds, no work history, no income and, by their own assertion, no future. Their attitudes reflect failure and rejection – as children in school and as young adults. Many are ex-offenders, homeless or both; some are survivors of childhood abuse and domestic violence. More than a few have experienced addiction. When they come to STRIVE DC, they have reached the end of the line, with tragedy ahead. Approximately 76% of STRIVE DC’s participants come from Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8, the wards with the highest unemployment rates. On average the program graduates 150 people per year and provides support services to 350 people.

Advisory Board

Jean Duff

Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty

Samuel A. Hartwell,
Founder STRIVE National

F. Barton Harvey III
Enterprise Foundation

The Rev. Raymond B. Kemp

John D. Macomber

Brenda Lee Richardson
Women like US

Board of Directors

John D. Barker,
Board Chair
DC Capital Group

Temitayo Akinrefon

Reynard Brown
CSX Transportation