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| Bright new rooms for technical-vocational classes at the Rodriguez Community Center. |
More than 40 youth from needy families will be the first students of the CCT Training and Development Institute (TDI) in Rodriguez, Rizal when it begins classes on January 18, 2016.
Technical-vocational education is one of the newest services being offered by CCT's community center in Rodriguez. It has already been offering microfinance, pre-school education and free health checkups for more than half a year
The tech-voc classes fulfill a long-held wish of William Belo, Wilcon Depot president and CEO, to provide education for out-of-school youth in the community around the Wilcon property in Rizal. In 2013, following a visit to the CCT TDI campus in Magdalena, Laguna, Mr. Belo expressed a desire for a similar school in Rodriguez. He then allocated 3,000 square meters of his company's warehousing facility for use as a new CCT-TDI campus, and construction of a new building was begun in May 2013. He also agreed to a suggestion that the new building do double duty as a community center. Microfinance staff moved into the building in February 2015. Soon after, along with microfinance, the community center also began to offer pre-school education and free medical checkups. A water station providing affordable drinking water and water dealerships was inaugurated in December.
Initial classes at the new campus will be in cookery and in electrical installation and maintenance, in partnership with Bayan Academy.
The community center in Rodriguez is one of 23 community centers of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries.
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| Ruth Callanta, founder and president of the Center for Community Transformation, during the TDI Rodriguez launch said that jobs will be ready for the students when they graduate. |
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| Lorraine Belo, Wilcon Depot executive vice president and chief financial officer, speaks of the importance of education and of her family's longing to provide underprivileged youth with schooling. |
