The Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center is proud to announce that they will be receiving another Grant from the Long Island Racial Equity Donor Collaborative (LIREDC) at the Long Island Community Foundation (LICF). This is a one-year implementation grant of $125,000 to support their growing and successful work force training strategy called TEACH ME HOW TO FISH. This grant will be used to continue their career training program leading to quality jobs that will improve the economic future for Black Long Islanders.
TEACH ME HOW TO FISH serves marginalized community members (18-45 years old) residing on the East End of Long Island. They have expanded their reach at times to go west of Riverhead as far as Bellport, as many of their families who had resided closer to Bridgehampton have had to move due to the high cost of living and the lack of affordable housing.
One of their goals is to help ensure that participants can earn a living that will allow them and their families to continue to reside in Suffolk County, and throughout the East End. Most participants reside in the towns of East Hampton, Southampton (including Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor), Hampton Bays and Riverhead.
This strategy takes a holistic approach, providing each individual with the supports necessary to help ensure a successful transition to a new career path. Through their 1st grant from the LICF and the Long Island Racial Equity Development Committee (LIDREC) they were able to begin with our STEM industry track in partnership with “We Connect the Dots” and their Software Engineering Boot Camp. They have enrolled students in their second round of STEM Industry training.
Their first year’s main- focus was on STEM. Two of their graduates from Software Engineering landed high paying jobs with large tech companies. The program is currently focusing on STEM, Real Estate, Trades, Clean Energy, and Entrepreneurship. They have had graduates and TMHTF. Graduating participants is only a step in this process, as they will only meet their desired outcomes if their graduates gain access and opportunity to high paying jobs and careers, leading to upward economic mobility.
