PIDC & WPSI Graduate Nine Workforce Program Participants; All Hired by Four Seasons Total Landscaping

by Navy Yard
March 12, 2021

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PIDC and University City District’s West Philadelphia Skills Initiative is thrilled to share that we graduated and placed 9 program participants from our first Navy Yard Workforce Development Initiatives training program today!  

We partnered with longtime woman-owned Navy Yard vendor Four Seasons Total Landscaping, who had a large hiring need due to new and expanded landscaping contracts. Over 115 applications were submitted, and just 13 people were accepted into the program.  

Over the course of the three-week Grounds Maintenance Laborer Program, the group participated in 30 hours of virtual training and coaching, 10 hours of safety training to earn an OSHA-10 certification, and two exciting days of in-person, hands-on training.  The Navy Yard campus was perfect for this green industry trades training, provided by Four Seasons Total Landscaping in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), due to the rich learning environment to learn how to weed, mulch, cut grass, trim trees, identify native and invasive plants, and learn green stormwater industry (GSI) systems 

Small machine operations training at the Navy Yard. Photo by Ben Bowens Photography.
Early season planting at the Navy Yard. Photo by Ben Bowens Photography.
Tree pruning and improving sight lines at the Navy Yard. Photo by Ben Bowens Photography.

At the end of the program, the participants interviewed for these Laborer positions, and were ALL extended and accepted a job offer for full-time, permanent positions with Four Seasons Total Landscaping to start as early as Monday! This is a 100% job placement rate for the program graduates who will start at $14.00/hour.

Screenshot from the virtual Closing Ceremony where all 9 program graduates were notified they were hired!

The Grounds Maintenance Laborer Program is the first of four collaborative professional development training programs managed by West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI) and PIDC’s Navy Yard Workforce Development Initiatives (NYWDI) to train Philadelphia residents for permanent, full-time, quality-wage careers at the Navy Yard.We are looking forward to many more successful programs connecting Philadelphians to life changing careers. 

To learn more, visit https://navyyard.org/workforce and sign up to be notified about future recruitments. If we can assist your company with its workforce needs, please contact us!  

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