Job fair to be held Friday at Rolling Hills Community Center
Friday event first in series of events organized by Better Tomorrows
LOWER POTTSGROVE » A variety of employers will be on hand Friday, Aug. 3 for a community job. The event — “Connect with Local Employers” — will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at Rolling Hills Community Center, 210 Buchert Road in Lower Pottsgrove.
“The overall goal is to have the employers come, and people in the community — not just Rolling Hills — and receive job applications and interviews,” said event organizer Cessely Nixon, family social service coordinator for the Pottstown branch of Better Tomorrows, which is sponsoring the event. “We’re just looking to … make sure that our community and surrounding areas have help and assistance in gaining employment for their families.”
Better Tomorrows is based in Marlton, N.J. and supports youth, adult and senior residents of affordable housing communities and their neighboring communities, according to the organization’s website.
Among the employers expected to attend the job fair, according to Nixon are: Volt Employment Services; Kencrest Services; People Share; Open Hearts Home Care, which will offer free home health training; Hands from the Heart, which will offer free home health training; Parkhouse Nursing & Rehabilitation Center; Haggar Clothing Store; and Manna on Main Street, which will offer free training to become a common grounds food service professional.
Nixon said that a number of families living in the Rolling Hills Apartments do not have cars.
“To me it is important to bring jobs to them because they can’t get out,” she said. “Having an on site interview as well as application service is beneficial because then they don’t have to worry about a back-andforth process or getting a babysitter. We’re trying to
take away some of those steps in the process,” she said.
Nixon recommends that attendees come to the job fair professionally dressed and with a resume.
The job fair is the first of several events Nixon has planned as family social service coordinator for the Better Tomorrows — a role she has held for just about one month.
A community day is scheduled on Saturday, Aug. 4 from 12 to 3 p.m. The free event will include food and drinks, as well as games for the whole family, bouncy castles, face painting, arts and crafts, raffles and prizes. There will also be musical entertainment.
In addition, free eye exams and glasses certificates will be available from VSP.
Nixon said there are several additional programs she hopes Better Tomorrows can host at its location in the Rolling Hills Apartments community including: job readiness programs, faith programs, after school tutoring, moms groups, fatherhood initiatives and financial planning.
These would all tie into Better Tomorrow’s mission of being focused around “economic stability, educational success, healthy lifestyles, and strong communities,” according to the organization’s website.
“I don’t want to just come in and empower you. I want to give you the tools that you need to be successful as well,” said Nixon.
Nixon said she went through some difficult times when her daughter required heart surgery when she was just four years old.
She said it was an emotional time for her. She started going to church and spoke about how encouraging the women and the small groups within the church were to her.
“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, if someone had done this for me years ago, who knows who I could’ve been or done and what I could’ve experienced,’ instead of getting caught up in depression, bad relationships,” she said. “Just having that faith to rely on, to help you pull through.”
Nixon started a nonprofit for girls called Hearts for Harmony which operated for about two years, with programs for girls at Rolling Hills, Olivet Boys & Girls Club and at the Bright Hope Community Center.
“We focused on positive affirmations, goal setting. Just being able to enlighten that — your circumstances are not your final destination,” she added.