As CEO of local job training nonprofit Hopeworks, Dan Rhoton has a critical role to play in helping equip young people with skills and connecting them to job opportunities.
However, he has a bigger goal in mind is helping end poverty in Philadelphia and Camden, writes Robert Huber for Philadelphia Magazine.
Upon joining Hopeworks, Rhoton came to realize that job training wasn’t enough.
Prior to joining Hopeworks, Rhoton taught math at St. Gabriel’s Hall for 15 years. After running into one of his former students, he learned that he and several other former students ended up jobless after leaving the juvenile detention facility.
“We had not lived up to our promise to them,” Rhoton realized. “I was selling bad, bad stuff. And that put me in a dark spot.”
Dejected by it and determined to make a difference, he wanted to ensure he could cover more areas in his new role.
Knowing that he had to help both train and employ everyone to came through, he developed businesses within Hopeworks with an eye toward that. This includes building websites for companies, digital mapping, coding, and medical billing.
Rhoton’s understanding is that these businesses would lay the foundation for future employment.
Read more about about Dan Rhoton and his multi-layered approach to addressing poverty at Philadelphia Magazine.
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