Recycling e-Waste and Training People!
1. To make e-Waste into e-Resources while building 'Green Recycling' options and awareness.
2. To provide technical skill building for entry jobs in the electronic field.
3. To provide Life Skills, Job Readiness Skills, GED Prep that can empower the adult student who has previously felt 'left behind'.
About You
About You
First Name
Judy
Last Name
Moore
Facebook Profile
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Urban Recycling and Training Center
Organization Website
Organization Phone
973-522-0544
Organization Address
53 Hackensack Avenue, South Kearny, NJ - 07032
Organization Country
United States, NJ, Essex County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, NJ, Essex County
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
Recycling e-Waste and Training People!
What change do you want to bring to the world?
1. To make e-Waste into e-Resources while building 'Green Recycling' options and awareness.
2. To provide technical skill building for entry jobs in the electronic field.
3. To provide Life Skills, Job Readiness Skills, GED Prep that can empower the adult student who has previously felt 'left behind'.
What are the primary activities of your project?
To pickup e-Waste donations from donors and repair, rebuild or recycle into salvagable matter. These activities are in on-the-job training environments that give students an opportunity to advance through 22 layers of electronic learning in the 1st floor 'Bench Area' of training. Upstairs in the 'Class & Lab' soft skills building and mutiple keyboarding levels of learning allow students to comfortably learn computer usage at their own pace and learn better living skills.
What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?
Just 'Green Recycling of e-Waste' is exciting ... but ... recycling people alongside of the e-Waste? Now, that's INNOVATIVE!
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.
We daily serve the poor and those in the midst of; or, coming out of multiple life crises. 80-85% of our students come from Newark, NJ and 15% from surrounding towns. Newark is filled with crime, the poorest of economic conditions with average households receiving multiple sources of government and program aide. The city trend has been for 'Rebuilding Newark' for over 25yrs.; but, the reality is that Newark is home to many depressed neighborhoods with abandoned buildings.
Our Urban Recycling and Training Center offers training to those moving from Welfare-To-Work, At-Risk-Youth, Re-Entering Ex-Offenders, Veterans and the homeless. Youth between 16-24yrs. and adults mostly between 35-50yrs. Each student has been referred and is prepared for a 5-day, 8-3:30pm training schedule.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
e-Waste Recycling and the wisdom of going 'Green' had always been an interest and idea of our CEO, Lane Jacobs. He had the knowledge of what was actually happening with people putting their old electronics out for the trash collector; and, that this e-Waste was being dumped into our environment somewhere. He also knew something about what needed to happen to setup a 'Green' sensitive recycling operation and began to learn more.
In 2001 the Naval Reserve Training building in Kearny became available. It required a lot of equipment removal, clearing and cleaning since it was unoccupied from 1978. Often electronic donations would pile up on the back lot until a truly 'Green' resource could be found. With consistent building, organizing, stable donors, a talented staff and the addition of the Life Skills, Job Readiness Skills and Keyboarding Curriculum; we KNOW we have a great working Project!
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured
We have federal, state, local government grants that require reporting on attendance and if the student has been moved to the next level of Job Readiness. We have four Project levels and each student receives a personal meeting with all three of their teachers/trainers. This meeting is call the 'Progress Report' and addresses separately the class room, computer usage lab and bench areas of student training. On this Progress Report we measure each student with a 1--4 point scale on the topics of:
-- ability to focus
-- active participation
-- stays on assigned task
-- follows instructions
-- follows rules
-- housekeeping
-- salvage
-- repair
-- troubleshooting Phase 1
-- troubleshooting Phase 2
-- assessment & plan
-- inventory in & out
-- warehousing
-- software installation
-- Mavis Keyboarding - Basic
-- Mavis Keyboarding - MICROSOFT
-- desktop - basic
-- Life Skills
-- Job Readiness Skills
-- completed assignments
How many people have been impacted by your project?
1,001- 10,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
More than 10,000
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
We are writing the formal curriculum training lessons and have our second Urban Recycling and Training Center site in Philadelphia, PA. We are beginning setup of the Philadelphis site and schedule operation September 2011.
Once we have the written URTC Guide & Curriculum; we will make this available on our website at a nominal cost to any city, town, municipality throughout the globe. Everyone NEEDS this e-Waste to e-Resources model!
Sustainability
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
Loyal, competent personnel and management staff who continue to grow with the URTC organization. We emphasis training and an 'extended family fun work' environment built with a staff that rolls up their sleeves and works hard on doing their job.
We have based our Center on old fashioned job values that acknowledge the employee for his/her production, quality of work and ability to grab responsibility. Each manager practices a check and re-check system in their work and train students eager to learn the duties of their postion i.e.: oversight thinking, long term strategy, pulling vision into daily reality, etc.
What we are building is long term partnerships with our environment and with our employees as an extended family. We believe this will keep an employee loyal and excited about their work. We have seen it happen repeatedly.
Tell us about your partnerships
Our partnerships are what keep the URTC facility growing and able to provide a rich training experience for our students. Our e-Waste Donor List contains over 500 [and growing]:
-- Banks
-- Colleges
-- Community Organizations
-- Hospitals
-- Law Firms
-- Medical Schools
-- New Jersey Turnpike
-- Pennslyvania Turnpike
-- Regional Grammar and High Schools
-- Star Ledger News
-- Townships & Municipalities
-- Universities
We have Partners who offer students internship placements:
-- CLR Sollutions
-- Edison Foundation
-- Newark Prudential Center
-- Red Bull Stadium
-- Storm King Art Center
-- Tech Recyclers
-- United Way
Funding Partners
-- Edison Foundation
-- Essex County Economic Development, Training & Employment
-- Essex Welfare to Work
-- Essex One-Stops
-- Hudson County EDTE
-- Lions Clubs of New Jersey
-- NJ Dept. of Labor
-- NJ Dept. of Corrections
-- Rutgers Universit
Each partnership, whether donor, financial, or intership placement site, collectively contributes to our solid foundation and regional collaborations.
Current annual budget of project, in US dollars
$250,001‐500,000
Explain your selections
We have a support system that has grown naturally by word of mouth through the years. URTC has setup a 'Call Center' staffed by two students who call potential donors for electronic donations.
How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?
By opening the Philadelphia Location
By writing the model in a Curriculum
By distribution of the model
By setup and opening of Center #3 in Baltimore Maryland.
Challenges
Which barriers to employment does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.
PRIMARY
Lack of skills/training
SECONDARY
Restrictive cultural norms
TERTIARY
Lack of access to information and networks
Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.
Primary -- Our students are adults who have not gotten a high school diploma, a GED or training in becoming a skilled laborer. They have fallen into parttime employment, have no benefits or enough income to money to cover bills.
We continue to look for fulltime Internship Partners because we know that internships allow the potential employer to see and work with the trainee on a personal level and this is what leads to employment.
Secondary -- we serve a 'ex-offender subculture' daily with a stigma that only can be removed individually, to the unique needs of the student.
Third -- Few students have an employed model in their life who practice high work ethics.
We have past students who have become trainees to mentor and encourage new students.
Are you trying to scale your organization or initiative?
If yes, please check up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.
PRIMARY
Enhanced existing impact through addition of complementary services
SECONDARY
Grown geographic reach: Within host country
TERTIARY
Repurposed your model for other sectors/development needs
Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.
#1 -- In the last two years of the Project we have added 2 Counseling Interns and both Individual and Group Therapy rooms; a GED Learning Center equipped with grade 4 to 12 Practice Lessons/Study/Guides/maps/globe/ measuring items/flash cards/books for reading, etc. and a Call Center to maintain electronic donations that are used for training tools.
#2 -- Opening of the #2 Urban Recycling and Training Center in September 2011 and begin assisting Welfare-to-Work, ex-offenders, At-Risk-Youth, veterans and the homeless of Philadelphia to gain training skills.
#3 -- Writing 2-Part Comprehensive Curricullum Model based on our Urban Recycling and Training Center in Kearny, NJ to include: Computer and Monitor Repair / Rebuilding / Recycling and subsequent Salvage
Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)
Government, Technology providers, NGOs/Nonprofits, For profit companies, Academia/universities.
If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?
Each Collaboration helps to build us as a solid resource in the community for e-Waste recycling and training of those most in need. With each collaboration our extended family grows, they grow and we all increase our resources!
 | 50 weeks agoCheryl Kiser said: Judy, I love what you are doing! I have a couple of thoughts that may move the ball forward for you. 1) I might look at the Delancey ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 52 weeks agoLulit A. said: Dear Judy, Thank for your entry. Your project has a very strong component on skills training and creation. Can you give us more ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 53 weeks agoJudy Moore updated this Competition Entry. |
| 54 weeks agoJudy Moore updated this Competition Entry. |
| 54 weeks agoJudy Moore submitted this idea. |
