JVS, a United Way Agency, uses Vigilant to develop skills and give individuals a new lease on life

There's a different point to the way Vigilant point-of-sale (POS) software is being used by the dedicated staff and students at JVS. Originally founded in 1947 as the Jewish Vocational Service, the not-for-profit United Way agency is now known as JVS of Greater Toronto and employs Vigilant to help hundreds of disadvantaged workers enter or re-enter the workforce through JVS's non-denominational retail and computer training programs. Working with Vigilant's point-of-sale, accounting, and inventory control applications in the JVS's classrooms and in-house store in northern Toronto, students of all ages, beliefs, and backgrounds are being given the skills needed for jobs in the retail trade.

"We were looking for the donation of a reliable POS and inventory package for both training purposes and our own business," recalls Allan Fryman, Manager of Product Development and Implementation for JVS. "And I remember very well the first time I phoned Jon Mainwaring (Vigilant's president) who didn't know me from Adam. But as soon as I told him what our organization was about, he asked, 'Where do we send the software?' ."

Now, thanks to Vigilant and JVS, trainees like Catherine Simmonds, who was long out of work, now have a job. Her six-week JVS program, which includes two-weeks of real work in a real store, landed Catherine full-time employment with Zellers.

"I had never really used a computer before," she says. "But after I got a chance to work
with one, I found Vigilant very easy to learn."

Indeed, helping their charges learn and gain confidence in their new knowledge and skills is what JVS is all about for the 120 dedicated people who run the JVS operations as well as numerous government and private sector sponsors and partners.

"We develop partnerships with employers who can potentially hire people and we develop curriculum aimed at getting people into jobs those employers need," says JVS executive director Karen J. Goldenberg. "A couple of years ago we identified that there were significant job opportunities in the retail sector. So that is why we have focused on retail recently."

Quick to respond have been even some of the biggest players in the retail game. Along with Zellers, firms like Sears, Canadian Tire, the GAP, Cotton Ginny, Bennix, and Shoppers Drug Mart have all signed up to take on JVS students for their two-weeks of practical experience. Of course, those who do well tend to attract the attention of the employer's Human Resources department. Many find jobs as a result soon after graduation from JVS.

"On average, even after the real boom in retailing subsided, about 75 percent who come through our retail training course are being hired," says Fryman with justifiable pride. "And for the people who come to us through the (federal) unemployment insurance program, and who have had experience in business before the rate of employment is closer to 100%."

More than placing students in other firms for training, JVS also operates two stores of its own. A small "retail incubator" as Fryman calls it, is wired up with Vigilant on its point-of-sale terminal and is open at JVS headquarters to both students and employees for seasonal sales of donated clothing and other merchandise. More recently, in June 2001 JVS launched a store open to the public in Toronto's Dufferin Mall. JVS teamed up with Dufferin Mall Youth Services to open the Retail Entrepreneur Project, better known as the "REP" store. Funded by a grant from the Ontario government's Trillium Foundation and given free space by the Dufferin Mall management, the REP store is staffed largely by what JVS terms "youth at risk". They get hands-on experience using modern business systems to sell and manage REP store products that have often been designed or manufactured by young entrepreneurs. By JVS definition, youth at risk span the 16-29 age group and often come from hard-pressed single parent families, or are no longer living at home, or are simply out of school and out of work. Many from the REP store have simply moved on to retail jobs elsewhere in the Dufferin Mall. And it doesn't hurt that a dozen or so of the Mall's retailers also use Vigilant to manage their businesses.

"After I made the first call to to Jon (Mainwaring), I called again to ask about technical support and once again Vigilant instantly came through with tech support and trained our own trainers on Vigilant. Then I called a third time, and Steve Lowe from Vigilant came out as a result and did the complete set-up of Vigilant at the REP store," says a grateful Fryman.Fryman adds that JVS likes Vigilant not just for its generosity but also for the rock-solid reputation it has for value and reliability among the more than 11,000 users of its Vigilant software worldwide.

"Most accounting packages do more or less the same thing," says Fryman. "But because Vigilant is so easy to use, we like it very much. A person can train on Vigilant, become familiar with it, and then adapt pretty quickly to other systems in other businesses. What they may discover, however, is that Vigilant is a better package."

For Jon Mainwaring that view of Vigilant is gratifying in more ways than one.

"As we develop our Vigilant produces and services, we put our emphasis on ease of use. It's always at the top of our requirements list," says Mainwaring."So we're delighted we've made things just that much less difficult for those admirable folks who are working their way through the JVS programs. To see them succeed and know we've been part of it, makes being involved with JVS very worthwhile."

"It's partners like Vigilant who make JVS work," says JVS executive director Goldenberg. "We very much value what they do for us and we really could not exist without them. We invite any other firms who would like to make contributions of any kind to get in touch with us."

For those interested in contributing, Allan Fryman at JVS may be reached at afryman@jvstoronto.org or by calling 416-787-1151 ext 260.