Mechelle Brown from Cape Ann Works talks to Kory Curcuru about an exciting new opportunity for students and potential employers on Cape Ann. Cape Ann Works aims to connect employers with local and international students to fill seasonal positions. Brown tells Kory the idea was born after local businesses were impacted by recent labor shortages. Visit the Cape Ann Works website: https://www.capeannworks.com/
Kory Curcuru:
Back again for another edition of Cape Ann Today, I am joined by Mechelle Brown. She is with Cape Ann Works to talk about a very important program being rolled out through The Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce. How are you, Mechelle?
Mechelle Brown:
I am well, Kory. Thanks for having me. How are you today?
Kory Curcuru:
I’m great. Thanks for being here. So, okay, right off the top. What is Cape Ann Works and how did this come about?
Mechelle Brown:
Cape Ann Works is a pilot project that we started to unite the Cape Ann businesses with local people to help find jobs and connect for people to work. It started as a response, last year, there was businesses sharing how they were struggling finding employees, and got together with Ray from the Beauport, connected with Senator Tarr and his crew, connected with Peter Webber from The Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, and Felicia from CATA, can’t forget Felicia. And we came up with a variety of things to try to support the small businesses and help people work.
Kory Curcuru:
So now the idea, Mechelle, is for local high school and college students when they’re here for the summer and to get them employed by local businesses who desperately need the help right now.
Mechelle Brown:
Correct, they desperately need the help.
Kory Curcuru:
Okay. And so how do we go about doing this? How do we marry the two? How do we help get the word out to these business owners and to these kids that there’s resources available here for them?
Mechelle Brown:
There’s lots of great jobs available. So for both the businesses and for the students, 14 to 22 or anyone who’s looking for a job here on Cape Ann, we have a website called capeannworks.com and we also have social media, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, your favorite, LinkedIn-
Kory Curcuru:
Love it.
Mechelle Brown:
Love it. And they just get to go on and they can post their jobs and people can communicate directly through the website. It’s all secure. There’s a lot of safety and security on it and people can connect to find jobs.
Kory Curcuru:
So how has the response been so far and how long does this program last?
Mechelle Brown:
So this is a pilot program that we started just for the summer. There’s many requests and we’re seeing what we can do about continuing it afterwards. So far, the response has been great. There’s over 120 jobs on Cape Ann already posted on the website.
Kory Curcuru:
Oh wow.
Mechelle Brown:
Yes, and everything from, if somebody wants to be working face-to-face with people, there’s great retail positions, there’s host and hostess positions, there’s server positions, bartender positions. If somebody doesn’t want to be as much customer service, there’s great jobs with the event company to do their tent and event setups. There’s jobs at Ace hardware, there’s jobs everywhere. Everyone is in need and however we can help fill that need will be great.
Kory Curcuru:
Yeah, sounds like all the industries are involved. And have you had a response… I mean, you and I worked together a lot, especially the last couple of years when certain industries were really taking a beating during COVID, are things slightly better now that we’ve kind of turned the corner with that? Or is it still as dire as it was the last couple of years?
Mechelle Brown:
So I’m being positively optimistic that this year is going to be a little bit better. One other component of the project that sometimes people get a little confused with is we also have international students coming to help for just the summer. So we have over 50 international students coming to help in some of those hospitality type positions. And it’ll be a great opportunity for our local students to meet international students as well.
Kory Curcuru:
Yeah, do you want to talk a bit, Mechelle, about the CATA component?
Mechelle Brown:
CATA, so thankful for CATA and Felicia has just worked so hard to be an amazing team player in this. Transportation is always something important, whether you live on Cape Ann, whether you have a car, whether you don’t have a car, parking is always a struggle and CATA has created some great programs. We’ve expanded some routes. So for the first time, CATA is going into Essex for picking up spots Downtown Essex. And there’s a new route coming out that starts at six o’clock in the morning and goes all the way to 11 o’clock at night. So hopefully some of the more workforce can be involved with that. There’s an unlimited pass for $30 a month where people can ride CATA unlimited, that does not include the on-demand, but it does include all the rest of the routes. So it’s every route, $30 unlimited. So if you don’t want to deal with parking on Cape Ann, you can take CATA instead.
Kory Curcuru:
And most people don’t, so that’s a great idea.
Mechelle Brown:
Instead of paying that one parking ticket, get that unlimited parking pass and you’re good for the summer and you park everywhere.
Kory Curcuru:
There you go. So now are there any limitations to those who can use the Cape Ann Works program?
Mechelle Brown:
There are none, it’s open to everyone, it’s available to everyone on Cape Ann. So that’s Rockport, Gloucester, Manchester, Essex, and Ipswich, Ipswich is included. CATA does not go to Ipswich, but Ipswich is more than welcome to participate. We also have the perks program, which we’re still in the works with, but what that is going to be is supporting small businesses and giving the students, the 14 to 22 year old students, some extra perks to thank them and give them a little bit more reason to work. So it’s more than just a paycheck. So the perks program is going to include discounts to retailers and restaurants and discount passes, discount memberships to the YMCA, there’ll be museum passes. So it’ll be a great summer for everyone to get out and enjoy and explore all the amazing things that we have right here on the island.
Kory Curcuru:
Yeah, nice. The timing’s perfect, the tourists are already here. We finally hit what feels like spring now and summer. That means Fiesta’s right around the corner.
Mechelle Brown:
Fiesta’s just around the corner.
Kory Curcuru:
And now we have all the college students coming home and the high school graduations are beginning to roll out to in the next few weeks.
Mechelle Brown:
Yes, so it’s a great time. And so to be able to connect everyone is key right now.
Kory Curcuru:
Okay, so now if a local business wants to get involved or if a student needs to learn more about this program, how can they go about doing that?
Mechelle Brown:
They can just go right on capeannworks.com or visit us on any social media channel.
Kory Curcuru:
There you have it, Mechelle, thanks for your time. Good luck with the program.
Mechelle Brown:
Thanks Kory, have a great day.
