Jobcase and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative Announce Partnership to Increase Employment in Roxbury

BOSTON, Dec. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Jobcase, a Kendall Square-based social media platform dedicated to empowering America's workforce, and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a community-based Roxbury planning and organizing nonprofit, today announced a groundbreaking industry-nonprofit partnership to empower the Roxbury community and improve employment outcomes for residents and local businesses. Through the partnership, Jobcase, in close consultation with DSNI, has developed a dedicated "Neighborhood Portal," powered by the Jobcase platform and customized for Roxbury, to bring together local job listings, business information, and community employment conversations. Providing a comprehensive view of the neighborhood's local employment landscape, the Neighborhood Portal will increase opportunities for residents to find nearby jobs, for local businesses to hire local residents, and for expanded neighbor-to-neighbor career guidance and support.

Boston's Roxbury neighborhood is home to nearly 46,000 residents and even with the state's improving economy, local unemployment remains a challenge. The neighborhood struggles with an 11.5% unemployment rate, nearly twice the national average and while many residents seek local employment opportunities, they report that the job search as both impersonal and discouraging. The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) was created in 1984 to empower residents to identify and implement efforts to support a vibrant, high-quality and diverse neighborhood, and seeks to strengthen the community's access to quality training and employment opportunities.

"DSNI supports efforts to improve our residents' access to jobs and career development opportunities, " said Juan Leyton, Executive Director at DSNI. "We are glad to work with Jobcase to develop sustainable solutions that help to expand the community's existing engagements between residents and local businesses and to improve employment outcomes for both."

"We are honored to work with DSNI to help support the Roxbury community," said Fred Goff, CEO of Jobcase. "Community empowerment is a shared focus for both of our organizations, so we are excited to launch this first-of-a-kind Neighborhood Portal as an online parallel and complement to DSNI's existing offline efforts. The Portal will highlight the strength of the local community, support expanded awareness and engagement between residents and businesses, and enable local jobseekers to increase their cooperation within the community- neighbors helping neighbors."

"As a neighborhood business, one of our top priorities is hiring local, qualified employees," said Scott Wolf, CEO of Dudley Square's Greater Boston Properties, a local residential real estate management company. "A qualified local hire is a gem – more likely to share our values and become a long-term employee. We're excited to use the Neighborhood Portal to engage local job-seekers, showcase our business at the local level, and participate in the community conversation." 

The Neighborhood Portal pilot will launch in advance of the annual uptick in job searches typical of the New Year. It will be accessible to residents by smartphone and desktop, and through community resource and computing centers throughout the neighborhood.

About Jobcase
One of the Boston area's fastest growing technology companies, Jobcase is the only social media site dedicated to empowering America's workforce. Jobcase provides one place to manage all things job-related, especially access to the knowledge, connections and wisdom of 46 million other Jobcasers. Jobcase is an industry affiliated partner of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, CSAIL, and Jobcase technology powers over 100 job sites in the Jobcase Network, connecting more than 46 million workers and employers. For more information on Jobcase, visit www.jobcase.com.

About The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative is a nonprofit community-based planning and organizing entity created in 1984 with a mission to empower Dudley residents to organize, plan, create and control a vibrant, diverse and high quality neighborhood in collaboration with community partners. Through DSNI, residents lead efforts that include all neighborhood stakeholders in a community-accountable process that increases civic participation, economic opportunity, community connections, and opportunities for youth.
www.dsni.org

SOURCE Jobcase

Related Links

http://www.jobcase.com