Launch Celebration: Ready4Work

The public is invited to a reception at the St. Paul Development Center celebrating the launch of the Ready4Work program in St. John’s County.  Honored guests will include social-justice activists Dr. Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest daughter of Nelson Mandela, and her daughter Ms. Tukwini Mandela.

Ready4Work is a nationally acclaimed program designed to provide former prison inmates with the skills and resources necessary to find and maintain employment that will offer a sustainable quality of life.  Ready4Work is sponsored by Operation New Hope, based in Jacksonville.  Founded in 1999, as a faith-based nonprofit community development corporation, Operation New Hope has maintained a two-pronged business model vital to sustaining broken urban communities – affordable housing and successful workforce reintegration of ex-offenders. The St. Paul Development Center will serve as the Ready4Work start-up site in St. John’s County.

Parking and shuttle-bus service will be available from the parking lots at St. Paul AME Church and St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church, at the intersection of Martin Luther King Ave. and DeHaven St. in Lincolnville.