The U.S. firm, Woods Services Foundation, in collaboration with the Liberian-owned not-for-profit, Jomah B. Samuels Care Foundation (JBS Care Foundation), has commenced a three-day intensive training for Liberians recruited to take up jobs in the United States of America.
A delegation of executive members of Woods Services Foundation, led by JBS Care Foundation’s Founder/Executive Director and Board Chair, Jomah B. Samuels and Henry Williams, are currently in Liberia for the conduct of the training, which got underway Tuesday at the Boulevard Palace Hotel, Sinkor.
While in the country, the Woods Services Foundation team, comprising executives and senior staff of the organization, will officially launch the foundation’s International Family and Friends’ Workers Program, which seeks to address staffing crisis by recruiting internationally among staff’s friends and family, using Green Card program for over 50 people on a rotational basis.
It can be recalled that in August 2022 the Founder and CEO of the JBS Care Foundation, Jomah B. Samuels, was named one of several Africans to work with Woods Services Foundation, aimed at recruiting dozens of Liberians for jobs in the United States.
Samuels, who currently serves as Case Manager of Woods Services Foundation, was brought on board by the U.S. firm as a consultant for the foundation’s International Workers Friends and Family Program.
The initial recruitment exercise of the International Family and Friends Workers Program, an initiative of the Woods and Brian’s House in the U.S., has already taken place, with the first batch of 55 Liberians being selected for the pilot project phase for what will be a continued process.
During their week-long stay in Liberia, the Woods Services Foundation delegation is expected to conduct a rigorous training exercise for its initial 55 beneficiaries for the International Family and Friends Workers Program, after which the beneficiaries will shortly travel to the United States to take up employment opportunities.
Facilitators of the three days intensive training exercise will include Julia Pfister, Senior Vice President for Human Resource, Woods Services Foundation; Sue Cunningham, Assistant Vice President of Human Resource, Woods Services Foundation; Jomah B. Samuels, Case Manager, Maplewood/Woods Services, among others.
On April 25, day-one of the training exercise, the President of Woods Services Trustee and CEO of Woods Services Foundation, Tine Hansen-Turton, participated virtually via zoom.
On day-one of the training exercise, which generally covered what Woods Services Foundation is and is involved with, as well as what roles the recruits are expected to assume on their jobs in the U.S., presentations were made by several facilitators, including Woods Services Foundation Case Managers, Mafar Forkpha, Siana Wright and Jomah B. Samuels.
Earlier, on day-one of the training exercise, Woods Services Foundation’s Senior Vice President for Human Resource, Julia Pfister, ably assisted by the Foundation’s Assistant Vice President for Human Resource, Sue Cunningham, gave a historicity of Woods Services Foundation, including releasing information such as the firm’s Founder, Mollie Woods, whom she described as an incredible pioneer for specialized education in the United States.
Located in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, USA, on a 300-acre of land, Woods Services Foundation, an implementing arm for the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services, is a non-profit organization that has five affiliate organizations across the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, providing services for people with special needs throughout the United States of America.
Woods Services Foundation has supported and funded many worthwhile projects, including funding towards the JBS Care Foundation’s Women and Girls Vocational Education Empowerment Project, through which dozens of females have acquired various vocational skills in Margibi County, Liberia.
Currently, Woods Services Foundation is working with JBS Care Foundation’s CEO, Samuels, and other Liberian staff at Woods to provide work opportunities in the Woods System of Care in the United States and housing for close to 60 Liberian citizens and their families.
Funding from Woods Services Foundation will support the cost of work visas, airfare, housing subsidies, training and mentor support.