Read how UPS and its employees are involved in communities around the globe. Go to UPS Community.

Below are just a few examples of how UPS has partnered with local agencies to make welfare-to-work successful.

• In 1996, UPS formed a partnership with the Grand Boulevard Federation to identify and recruit qualified welfare recipients in the Chicago area. Since then, UPS has hired more than 5,000 through its partnership with Grand Boulevard and other community organizations. To ease the transition from welfare to work, new hires at UPS are assigned a mentor that helps them through their first 90 days of work. Mentors help the new employees learn time management and basic job etiquette skills. The UPS hub in Hodgkins, Ill has also formed partnerships with the local bus system and with the Chicago public schools to bring employees from the city to their jobs in the suburbs. The public high schools and UPS have worked together to stop the generational cycle of welfare before it starts by providing "at-risk" high school students with jobs and a means of transportation. The bus system has been very successful, serving almost one-third of the 6,500 employees at the Hodgkins facility.
  
  
• In collaboration with the Workforce Partnership, UPS participates in job fairs for welfare recipients every month in different areas of San Diego, the most recent of which drew more than 300 people. At the job fairs, UPS not only shares information about available jobs, but also conducts mock interviews to assist welfare recipients in learning "soft skills" such as workplace etiquette and time management. UPS has also established a strong relationship with the San Diego Urban League. A UPS workforce planning manager is on the Urban League's advisory board and coordinates on-site interviews for people going through job-readiness training. In addition, UPS has donated 20 computers to the Urban League to assist in training welfare recipients.
  
  
• In Camden, NJ, UPS recruits qualified individuals through the Camden County Family Development and Job Resource Center, as well as other job skills training centers. To help individuals commute from Camden to the Philadelphia airport, UPS implemented and operated a bus transportation system for two months before turning it over to the state. Based on the consistent level of ridership between the two cities, New Jersey Transit took over the project, which is still subsidized by UPS, and instituted a new bus route between the two cities.
  
  
• Throughout Los Angeles and the surrounding communities, UPS has hired more than 150 employees from welfare. UPS partners with many California state employment agencies and non-profit organizations to identify and recruit qualified candidates for jobs at UPS. UPS works in conjunction with Episcopal Community Services in a program called "Pride and Promise." This program prepares individuals for the workplace by teaching them rudimentary employment and communication skills. UPS has also partnered with Marriott's "Bridges . . . From School to Work" program to hire individuals with learning disabilities. Bridges recently named UPS "Employer of the Year" for its ongoing commitment to the program.
  
  
• To meet business growth around the expansion of its Hartford, Conn. air hub, UPS collaborates with the local chapter of the National Urban League to hire qualified job-ready candidates who lack transportation. UPS also contracts with a van service to provide subsidized transportation to its air hub at Bradley International Airport.
  
  
• UPS part-time employees have the opportunity to participate in job sharing programs that match them with a participating employer with shifts complementing the employees' UPS hours. For instance, in Louisville, Ky., UPS is partnering with the Greater Louisville Chamber of Commerce to develop "Job Match," a program that offers job counseling and assistance to employees who would like another part-time job. More than 13 companies in the Louisville area have joined with UPS in this effort. UPS also has collaborated with the Transit Authority of River City and the State of Kentucky Department of Employment Services to provide transportation to and from the UPS air hub in Louisville. Routes are concentrated in high unemployment areas and coordinated with UPS night sort times to encourage participation and provide opportunities to get to work.
  
  
• At the request of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, UPS employees participated in the State Job Creation Task Force for the Philadelphia County Welfare to Work project in April of 1997.
  
  
• In Harrisburg, Pa., UPS partnered with the Harrisburg Departments of Welfare, Labor and Education to form Project Connect. Since 1995 this program has provided training and mentoring for welfare recipients and UPS provides interviewing techniques and employment opportunities.
  
  
• In Schenectady, N.Y., UPS works with Jobs, Etc. to recruit qualified welfare-to-work candidates for UPS jobs. UPS provides instructors to teach weekly job readiness classes. UPS and Jobs Etc. also partners with Catholic Charities for use of their vans. Catholic Charities uses the vans during the day and UPS uses them in the evening to bring people to work.

• UPS Corporate Public Relations
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