Sudbury employment agencies win awards: YMCA Employment Services achieves gold level for second time.

• Author: Ulrichsen, Heidi
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: SKILLED TRADES

Two Sudbury employment agencies have been presented with Minister's Awards for Excellence in Service Quality by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in recognition of their outstanding delivery of the Job Connect program and other services.

In December, YMCA Employment Services received a gold level award, while the Sudbury Vocational Resource Centre received a silver at an awards ceremony in Toronto. Thirteen other agencies in the province also received awards.

"Job Connect services transform the lives of individuals, employers and entire communities," said Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities John Milloy, in a release.

"We are grateful to the people and organizations who deliver this program, and these awards are just one way of recognizing the important work they do."

Job Connect is a provincially-funded program, which helps people prepare for and succeed in the job market. It is delivered by community-based non-profit agencies and post-secondary institutions.

Agencies applying for the awards are scored on organizational capacity, planning, resourcing, communicating and continuous improvement.

Those that score between 40 and 60 per cent in each of these four measures receive bronze awards, those that score between 70 and 90 per cent receive silver awards, and those that score 95 per cent or above receive the gold award.

Once an agency has received an award, they may only apply for an award at the next level up until they achieve the gold level. Agencies that have achieved the gold level have to wait a period of three years before they can re-apply, and only at the gold level.

This is actually the second time YMCA Employment Services has won the gold level award, an achievement unique in the province. In the past, they've also won silver and bronze...