ECCES works with young immigrant adults and professionals, providing resources for education, career counseling, and employment services in Nashville, Tennessee.
ECCES eliminates barriers to entering the professional workforce by providing one-on-one advising, customized training, mentorships, and fellowships. We are a free resource that equips each candidate with the skills and connections necessary to succeed in the professional workforce, whether they have current experience in their desired field or not.
OUR WORK
Our Three Avenues for Success
EDUCATION
Nearly 50% of refugees and immigrants coming to the United States have a college education and professional experience in fields such as engineering, healthcare, science, finance, and IT. ECCES exists to see immigrants with higher education degrees and professional work experience become recertified and employed in their career field.
EDUCATION SERVICES
01
LANGUAGE TRAINING
-
We provide conversational english language learning in a classroom setting.
-
Our cross cultural workshop for both our immigrants and community agencies provide a space for empathy and context for both parties.
-
Each immigrant participant goes through our workshop on Understanding American Culture. Here they can ask questions, gain insight, and learn assimilation tactics.
02
LITERACY TRAINING
-
We provide a literacy program to train our immigrant clients on how to read and write in english.
-
In collaboration with local universities’ education departments, we help our clients who are struggling with reading English or who have a learning disability. Our university partnerships provide service and class credit to education majors who tutor our participants.
03
EMPOWERMENT SERVICES
-
We are extremely intentional about revealing the potential that each participant has in America. We desire to catalyze them into the best life possible.
-
We hold summits and seminars throughout the year to inspire and educate our participants.
04
LEADERSHIP TRAINING
-
Our workshop helps our clients to develop leadership skills that will help them in their careers.
-
Once the participant graduates out of our program, they can become mentors.
05
SERVICE LEARNING
-
We introduce learning objectives with community service to instill the importance of community involvement in the United States.
-
Our mentors who are in college or need community service hours are eligible to earn Service Learning credit through our program.
06
TRANSLATION SERVICES
-
We partner with bilingual volunteers and staff to provide translation services.
-
ECCES is a language resource program for our participant’s employer and other community agencies.
CAREER COUNSELING
ADVISE. EDUCATE. CONNECT.
Immigrants who have specialized job experience hit a huge barrier coming to the United States because they don’t have connections or pragmatic steps on how to reenter the workforce. Our Career Counseling program pairs participants with mentors and various training to help them succeed in this market.
CAREER SERVICES
01
CAREER STABILITY COURSE
-
A candidate's career adviser will create a plan to achieve their career goals and provide participants with resources and information on obtaining Tennessee licensing (if applicable).
02
JOB RETENTION TRAINING
-
Workshops enhancing a participant’s knowledge of U.S. professional culture, applying for jobs, networking, marketing oneself and interviewing.
03
CONNECT TO CAREER OPTIONS
-
Participants get connected with other individuals in their field for informational meetings, interviews, and mentorship.
04
MENTORSHIP PLACEMENT
-
You will be placed with a professional mentor that works in your desired industry. They will help you navigate the various barriers you must overcome to get job placement.
05
ASSET BASED CULTURAL STRENGTH AUDIT
-
Participants are aided in discovering their unique benefits and strengths, and are encouraged to hone in on their areas of interest while searching for a sustainable career path.
06
ASSIMILATION/ACCULTURATION TRAINING
-
Volunteers help ECCES candidates create their personal brand and develop a marketing pitch. Participant groups engage in a variety of activities and games about body language, nonverbal communication, email etiquette, crafting connections, strengths, and weaknesses, and developing a marketing pitch.
-
Volunteers participate in a networking event in which ECCES candidates are tasked with specific objectives to achieve while networking. Through a combination of group discussion, interaction, and self-assessment candidates will learn more about networking success.
07
CULTURE CONNECT
-
Company sponsors a group outing for employees and ECCES candidates to introduce participants to important social components of the middle Tennessee professional community. Examples include sporting events, art, or entertainment.
TESTIMONIAL
Elimu Empowerment services has been and continues to be of great help in my academic career and personal life... I gained so much knowledge and assistance from various tutors within the organization.
- Nozipho Viki, Alumni
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
We create connections and opportunities for immigrants who are trying to break into their industry’s field. To do so, we strategically coach each participant in the following ways:
OUR SERVICES
01
SKILLS ASSESSMENT
-
ECCES conducts assessment during intake to measure candidate’s education, skills and experience. We use the results of these assessments to match our participants with accurate mentorship and employment opportunities.
02
RESUME + COVER LETTER DEVELOPMENT
-
Volunteers work one-on-one with ECCES candidates to improve their resume and cover letter by exploring hard and soft skills
03
ONLINE JOB SEARCH
-
Volunteers partner one-on-one with ECCES candidates to discuss the online job search process. This workshop will cover topics such as, finding the perfect job, adapting resumes to match the position, applying for the job, researching the company, utilizing your network, and how to stand out. Laptops are provided.
04
MEETING NEW EMPLOYERS
-
We provide aid with finding new employment opportunities for each participant’s unique needs. We use our connections to get our candidates in front of new employers.
05
CAREER MATCHING
-
We audit the education, skills, abilities and experience of what candidate came with from their original country and translate those assessments into potential career avenues.
06
ON-JOB TRAINING
-
We build relationships with various employers that are willing to provide on-the-job training for our participants that don’t have a specific skill set yet.
07
"INCREASING INCOME" COURSE
-
Matching a candidate to a job that adheres to their education, skills and experience will increase his/her income and the longevity of job turnover.
08
INTERVIEW TRAINING
-
Mock-interview volunteers help ECCES candidates improve their interview skills by conducting a “real life” interview followed by feedback. The interview process focuses on cultural differences and common interview mistakes.
