CVS, JVS open learning center to help disadvantaged

BOSTON CVS Caremark, in partnership with the Jewish Vocation Service, today opened its first CVS/Pharmacy Regional Learning Center. The goal of the center is to provide disadvantaged individuals opportunities to find employment and build careers.

Under the agreement, JVS will provide pre and post employment services to trainees, while CVS will provide a learning center to hire and develop associates. The Regional Learning Center houses classrooms and a mock CVS/pharmacy store—complete with a state-of-art pharmacy, photo lab and beauty center—to train new and current associates, from entry level to management.

“Thanks to CVS Caremark’s training program, thousands of Boston’s residents will be able to develop the skills needed to be successful in the workplace,” said Jerry Rubin, president and chief executive officer of JVS. “We are honored to support such a remarkable program and partner with an organization that shares a common goal of opening the doors to jobs with real career and earning potential for the Boston community.”

For the rest of this year, CVS and JVS are aiming to train more than 3,000 new and current employees at the center. Some of these employees will be welfare-to-work participants as well as refugees.

CVS has eight other learning centers located in Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.