Customer Service and Retail

Avenida Guadalupe Association
CARES Program

Through NCLR’s partnership with the National Retail Federation Foundation (NRFF), NCLR Affiliates have been trained and certified to offer NRFF’s curriculum focusing on customer service, marketing, and other advanced opportunities within the customer service and retail sector. Upon successfully completing each NRFF training level, participants are eligible to test for an industry-recognized certificate and advance to higher-level trainings and higher-wage jobs.

With funding from the Walmart Foundation, NCLR currently funds four Affiliates across the country to implement this initiative while utilizing the NRFF curriculum. Besides education and training, participants have access to lifelong case management and support services that significantly increase job retention.

The video below highlights a customer service training program that was implemented by Association House of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, between 2010 and 2012.

NCLR Affiliates funded in 2012 under this initiative that implemented customer service and retail industry job training programs were:

• Avenida Guadalupe Association (San Antonio, Texas)
• Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota)
• Mi Casa Resource Center (Denver, Colorado)
• El Barrio (Cleveland, Ohio)

NCLR past grantee sites in customer service (2010–2012) include:

• Association House of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)
• Avenida Guadalupe Association (San Antonio, Texas)
• Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota)
• Center for Latino Progress (Hartford, Connecticut)
• El Barrio (Cleveland, Ohio)

Highlights:

• Between April 2010 and April 2012, 798 participants were enrolled in the NCLR Customer Service and Retail Initiative.
• Seventy-five percent of participants who enrolled in the NCLR Customer Service and Retail Initiative successfully graduated from the program.
• Sixty percent of participants who graduated from the NCLR Customer Service and Retail Initiative attained employment.
• Participants have been placed in jobs with an average wage of $9.61 per hour, which represents an average wage gain of $2.87 per hour for most participants from their previous jobs.

For more information, please contact Surabhi Jain, Manager, Career Pathways Initiatives, at sjain@nclr.org or Luis Barrera, Senior Coordinator, Workforce Development, at lbarrera@nclr.org.