by Diana Louise Carter | Wednesday, November 4, 2015 | Green Visions, Greentopia
Increasingly, it looks like a big part of helping people out of poverty isn’t a hand-out, but a hand up that recognizes the human capital available in our poorer neighborhoods. One program that does this is Greentopia‘s Green Visions program, which provides 22 weeks of job training in the Josana neighborhood during the planting, growing, and harvest season for cut flowers. Members of the Rochester Garden Club recently visited Greentopia’s offices to consider a pitch on a future donation. While they were there, though, they also heard the latest results of Green Visions, which they supported in the past. Though the program creates productive flower gardens one of the most downtrodden sections of Rochester, “ultimately it’s a work development program” Morgan Barry, special projects director, told the garden club. Here are some of the successes he listed:
- 60 percent of the people who participated in summer 2015 secured employment at 12 different businesses when the program was done.
- 94 percent of Green Visions graduates received three types of training and credentials they’ll be able to use to set them apart from other job seekers.
- 80 percent (12 people) of this year’s Green Visions participants began the program without a high school diploma, but a quarter of them earned one while in the program. And half were enrolled in a high school diploma equivalency program during or immediately after their work with Green Visions.
- 15 people completed the program in 2015, representing a retention rate of 87 percent.
- One-third of the 2015 Green Visions participants with high school diplomas are enrolled for the spring 2015 semester at Monroe Community College.
- Flowers were sold directly from the lots, but bouquets also went to Harts grocery store and Wegmans each week, where they typically sold out. The program also sells bouquets at the Rochester Public Market.
by Diana Louise Carter | Wednesday, July 22, 2015 | Green Visions, Greentopia
At the end of a rainy-turned-sunny day, two young women are packing up at the Green Visions gardens on Rochester’s northwest side before planning to walk to their nearby homes. Tiani Jennings, 20, has already won another job with her Green Visions credentials. Tamyha Jones, 18, is hoping the certifications she has earned by working with Green Visions will help her secure a better-paying job the next time she looks for painting work.
Jennings is in her third year of working with the April-to-October job training program and she’s now an assistant site manager. Jones (pictured above) used to volunteer at the Smith Street site when her older sister worked for Green Visions. This year is her first year as an actual employee at the garden, where she plants, weeds and waters flowers, and makes bouquets.
Morgan Barry, the site manager who oversees the program for Greentopia, said Green Visions currently has 13 employees who each work up to 20 hours a week. Many of them also juggle a second job, school, or classes to earn their General Education Diploma. Besides working the gardens in the JOSANA Neighborhood, the Green Visions employees sell bouquets from the site and at the Rochester City Public Market on Saturdays. Flowers are also for sale through the Greentopia web site. The flowers serve multiple purposes as they:
• Provide income in a neighborhood with few jobs
• Provide 22 weeks (at least twice as long as summer programs) of job training during the growing season
• Make the soil healthier
• Beautify the neighborhood
• Create community engagement.
Jennings said she is planning to move into the home health care field, but she’s earned marketable skills and support by working with Green Visions. “This job has helped me from the very, very first day,” she said. “I’m 20, I’m very young, but I have management experience, I have a great resume. And, Morgan is always in my corner. I know I can count on him if I need him.”
And Greentopia is in this neighborhood’s corner, too.
