Employment Hub

In our last update, we shared that our first official cohort of students graduated from their Employment Hub training in mid-June. 32 of the 39 students initially selected for the cohort completed the training—31 of whom are Indigenous young women! This is a huge milestone, especially in a country where five times as many young women (ages 15-24) are out of school or work as compared to young men. The Employment Hub allows these women to defy the statistics, while focusing on their personal and professional development. Please enjoy the graduation photo from the ceremony!

Originally, we planned for a second cohort to begin in July and a third in September; however, due to some timeline and opportunity shifts, both additional cohorts began training in July. The students have been managing the hybrid schedule well, coming to the Employment Hub space to complete 5 in-person workshops and completing 5 virtual lessons on their own time in between. These students are partway through the initiative and will continue training throughout October, building their professional skills and developing employment-seeking materials such as resumes.

Once the second and third cohort finish at the end of the month, project partner Impact Hub Antigua will begin placing students from all three 2026 cohorts into internships. Since students have been focusing on hospitality and administration tracks (with technology components incorporated in both tracks), the internships will span from tourism to office roles. The goal is for many of these internships to lead to more permanent career placement. Most importantly, the career preparation provided by this initiative will give students an additional stepping stone on the path from high-school graduation to truly breaking the cycle of poverty!

Links:

• CoEd's Website