When Sara, a single mother, lost her job as a revenue account specialist for an airline, she knew she had to do two things: Find new employment and keep a positive attitude for herself and her nine-year-old daughter.

Career Connect helped make both possible.

Career Connect is a community-based employment program run by UJA-Federation of New York’s network of nonprofits. Career Connect offers services for people who are out of work and underemployed.

Sara contacted Career Connect at Westchester Jewish Community Services, a UJA-Federation beneficiary agency, soon after she was laid off, and attended Connect to Employment Boot Camp. The boot camp is designed for adults age 50 or older and offers intensive services on networking, interviewing, resumes, social media, and LinkedIn.

“It was helpful to be with a group of people going through the same hardship as I was,” Sara said. “We helped each other, offering suggestions of people we knew who might have useful contacts. And our group leader made everyone feel like we had so much potential, came up with ideas to market ourselves, and revised our resumes.”

The effort paid off. This spring Sara found a job as an account specialist at an insurance company.

“If it hadn’t been for Career Connect, I wouldn’t have got the job,” Sara said. “Having a good support system is a must, and I was fortunate to have the connections I made from the program.”