Exploring Careers at the CLC

The Cambridge Community Learning Center (CLC) has free training programs for people who want to start new careers. Sometimes people come to the CLC and know what job they want to do. For example, Fatima trained to be a nurse before she moved to the U.S. Now she wants to work with children. “I want to be a preschool teacher, but my English is not good enough, so I am taking English classes. When my English is better, I want to apply for the Early Childhood Education Career Training Program,” she explains. Fatima started taking English classes the CLC this fall.

Other people don’t know what career they are interested in. At a recent information session for English classes, H.C. asked the advisor, Lisa for advice. “I’m a driver for Uber right now,” he said. “I don’t want to do this forever. I don’t know what kind of job I might be good at.” Lisa knew exactly how to help H.C. “I told him about our new Career Connections Program. It can be difficult to make a plan for a career, and this program can help him with that.”

The Career Connections Program (CCP) begins in January and helps adults who need to improve their English communications and/or math skills to think carefully about their interests, values, and job skills. CCP works with many training providers who present to program participants about their trainings and careers so that participants will learn about the various options they have. Participants work with the program's career advisor to research what career is good for them. The advisor will help them see what trainings are available. Training programs require an English and/or a math test to enroll students. CLC’s Career Connections Program will help participants study to pass these tests. H.C. was excited to learn about the Career Connections Program.

There are a lot of career training programs in the Boston area, and many of them are free. For example, there are trainings in biotech, carpentry, HVAC, information technology, customer service, healthcare, hospitality, food preparation and much more. Here at CLC, we have training programs for people who want to be a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) or work as early childhood educators. The CLC also has strong collaborations with local training providers to help its participants transition into a training and start a career that is good for them.

When you come to an information session at the CLC, you will learn all about programs that you may be interested in or qualified for. Coming to an information session will help you see if a particular program is a good fit for you. You will find out the details about the program and how participating can help you reach your career goals.

No matter where you are on your career path, our advisors and teachers can help you get started on a new career. Learn more about our programs at an upcoming information session.