History
SOAR Career Solutions, formerly known as Project SOAR, has many years of experience supporting low-income individuals to address physical, emotional and psychological barriers that keep them from securing and maintaining sustainable employment. SOAR implements two programs – Employment and Re-entry Services. Employment Services assists participants one on one to create holistic career & educational action plans, build soft skills & job search skills, develop resumes & applications, connect to job trainings in partnership with the trades & post-secondary institutions, connect to apprenticeship opportunities & assist with job retention. Re-entry Services reduces recidivism by providing one-on-one case management & support services to individuals transitioning out of incarceration.
Mission
SOAR inspires personal transformation through career development.
Vision
SOAR provides innovative programming that moves people to sustainable employment, contributing to a prosperous community.
Timeline
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1980SOAR Career Solutions’ (SOAR) started out within the Duluth YWCA organization as Project SOAR of Northeastern MN. The purpose was to serve women who were homemakers and worked in the home and women who were looking for employment but did not possess the job skills, work experience or the self-concept necessary to secure employment.
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1983SOAR was incorporated with the State of Minnesota as a 501c3 Non-profit organization.
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2005SOAR celebrated its 25th anniversary providing employment services to the Duluth community and surrounding area.
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2006SOAR started its Re-entry Services programming focusing on supporting individuals returning back to the community from incarceration.
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2007SOAR’s Re-entry Services Program received the Minnesota Governor’s Best Practices Award, given to programs developed according to evidence-based practices.
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2014SOAR’s Re-entry Services Program was a finalist for the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation’s Touchstone Award for Inclusiveness.
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2015SOAR received TakeAction Minnesota’s Leadership Award, recognizing the work done with Vision Duluth to engage 1,000’s of people in shaping a vision for Duluth rooted in equity and democracy.
