We are delighted that after 14 months separated by miles but connected through cyberspace, coaches and trainees will be resuming job skills training at Girl AGain boutique!
While the White Plains store has been open since last June, we have only had one staff person working at a time. Trainees worked from home, coached on Zoom, preparing merchandise for the store. But they missed a key component of our program – interacting with our customers, peers, and managers face-to-face.
Pre-COVID, we had four trainees and two coaches, plus the store manager all working at Girl AGain each day – plus customers coming and going. But with our 750 square foot space, we decided that we need to modify this and now we will start in June with two trainees and one coach at a time.
All our coaches, store staff, and trainees have been fully vaccinated, so on days that there are no customers in the store we can go “maskless”. Woo hoo!
Lesli Cattan, Director of Training Programs, created a hybrid schedule where each trainee will have a coaching session in the store and one session on Zoom. Creating the schedule was like filling in a Sudoku puzzle. We will continue to have our weekly group meeting for core skills weekly on Zoom followed by a virtual yoga class.
As seen on TV!
To keep the fresh air flowing in the store, Chief Engineer and volunteer, Paul Piwnicki, installed a screen door, just like what I saw on TV. Only $19.95. But wait, there’s more. Here’s a picture of Lesli demonstrating how it works.
So please come by Girl AGain at 10 Church Street White Plains, NY 10601, to try our new screen door and see our trainees back at the store.
More about our store policy for customers on our Girl AGain website.
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By Marjorie Madfis, Executive Director
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