Cultivating True Livelihood (CTL), is a thorough program curriculum based on the principles of "Activity-Based Placement". Simply-stated, the Activity-Based Placement approach is one that supports work-seekers to effectively conduct their own effective work search. It engages participants in a series of assignments - concrete activities designed to empower them with critical skills, information, knowledge and experiences.

Twelve of CTL's Premises For Program Participants

Twelve Instructional Considerations Built-in to CTL

Twelve Programmatic Benefits of CTL and Activity-Based Placement

The Nine Volumes in the CTL Curriculum

Purchasing more than one Library

Purchasing Individual Courses

Twelve of CTL's Premises For Program Participants:

1. We can inspire a powerful new vision of work in the hearts and minds of the people we serve.

2. People need resources and skills in order to take a proactive approach to their work search.

3. The skills we impart must be responsive to the new realities of the ever-changing work world.

4. We can empower people to travel their own path on the work search journey.

5. We can help people find their own answers by engaging them in the process of self-discovery.

6. We can help work seekers take control over their own lives by holding them responsible for performing activities that will bring success to their work search efforts.

7. Work seekers are best served by keeping their focus and efforts on the areas of their lives over which they have direct control.

8. We can assist people through the fears and difficulties that accompany life transitions.

9. The goal of restoring a person's dignity and self-esteem should be as highly-regarded as imparting new skills and strategies.

10. The most effective employment services are holistic and person-centered.

11. While we can't be all things to all people, everyone is ripe for something.

12. We can make the system work on behalf of people's lives rather than using people's lives to support the system.

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Twelve Instructional Considerations Built-in to CTL:

1. Offer employment professionals a large-scale "cookbook" of instructional activities spanning all aspects of the vocational process, so that they can tailor their instructional needs to the needs of the program/individual.

2. Assume little or no prior knowledge of the job market on behalf of either the work seeker or the facilitator.

3. Make learning as experiential as possible.

4. Use, to the greatest extent possible, the "real world" as the context in which learning takes place.

5. Provide individuals with ample opportunity to share prior experiences and to capitalize on their existing assets and skills for the development of new ones.

6. Develop activities which could be utilized in a broad variety of instructional contexts and conditions.

7. Respond to people's need for information, experience, practice and feedback during the learning process.

8. Address the diversity of work seekers along lines that include varying ages, life experiences, socioeconomic backgrounds, class differences, skill levels, vocational interests and preferred learning styles.

9. Encourage group participation and peer support as a primary teaching tool to reinforce the learning process.

10. Start with the "big picture" first, and then move from theory to practice.

11. Present information and techniques in bite-sized pieces for easier assimilation and better retention.

12. Make as much as possible of the content of the curriculum available in the participant worksheets in order to further empower work seekers while lessening the workload of facilitators.

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Twelve Programmatic Benefits of CTL and Activity-Based Placement:

1. Empowering staff with numerous ready-made, hands-on tools for supervising, managing and evaluating an individual's work search.

2. Capitalizing on the time, energy and resources of each work seeker to improve his/her own employment situation in particular and the job development process in general.

3. Enhancing the self-esteem, confidence and personal power of work seekers by keeping them actively responsible for ongoing achievable activities in their work search.

4. Allowing staff to provide employment services to more people by delegating activities to work seekers themselves.

5. Using staff time and resources more effectively by implementing Job Clubs, Support Teams and work search workshops in which several work seekers receive information and guidance at the same time rather than on a one-to-one basis.

6. Making use of the tremendous power of group support, group accountability and peer reinforcement in the job placement process.

7. Increasing the number of contexts in which the agency can build employer partnerships and strengthen employer relationships by creating client services which require employer input or participation.

8. Increasing the exposure and marketing of work seekers in the employer community.

9. Having a structured way of discriminating between work seekers who are truly committed to becoming employed and those who are not.

10. Having a way to work effectively with individuals who exhibit marginal employability skills without compromising the agency's reputation or relationships with employers by enabling people to present themselves.

11. Implementing an approach to client services which further reinforces (to staff and clients) the agency's mission of employment as its primary purpose.

12. Increasing your staff's ability to offer one-stop employment services to individuals from all backgrounds and target groups.

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The Nine Volumes in the CTL Curriculum:

Curriculum Guide (190 pages): A complete administrative overview of the CTL program philosophy and application. Includes an Administrative guide to program implementation issues and a Facilitator's guide.

Course 1, The Spirit to Work: Fostering Hope and Shifting Perspective (21 Activities): An inspiring collection of motivational activities designed to enliven and direct the spirit of work seekers!. Sections include: The Rewards of Working, Work as True Livelihood, and Fresh Perspectives.

Course 2, Knowing Thyself: Assets, Strengths and Choices (18 Activities): Developed to engage the work seeker in a more playful spirit than traditional assessment instruments, this volume offers a goldmine of tools to help the work seeker uncover the array of skills, abilities, and other assets that they have to offer the work world. The activities offer wonderful tools for raising self-esteem, building group camaraderie, and setting goals tailored to the unique strengths of each work seeker! Sections include: Inspirations and Aspirations, Inside Your Treasure Chest, and Work Preferences.

Course 3, Personal Power: Responding to Challenges (23 Activities): Rekindles the dampened spirits of discouraged work seekers and prepares them for the rocky terrain of the typical work search - empowers them with a positive and assertive approach to facing current and future challenges. Sections include: Building Self-Esteem, Overcoming Fear and Taking Risks, Developing Assertiveness, and Fostering Power Thinking.

Course 4, Work Search Planning: Laying the Groundwork in the New Millennium (16 Activities): Chock full of information, tools and strategies to equip today's work seekers with the skills and attitudes necessary to make their way, not only in the short term, but into the future as they continue to cultivate their livelihoods - long after they have benefited from your services. Sections include: Changes in the World of Work, Looking at the Big Picture, Provisions for the Road, Developing a Work search Plan.

Course 5, Tools for the Journey: Proposals, Resumes and Correspondence (13 Activities): Critical for work seekers who need to "get out of the box" in order to consider new and creative possibilities for putting their skills to work! Sections include: Creating Your Own Opportunities, Resumes reviewed, and Writing Winning Correspondence.

Course 6, Researching Options and Opportunities (18 activities) Turns even the most passive work seeker into an inquisitive and assertive investigator of work opportunities in their communities and beyond! Sections include: Introduction to Employment Research, Targeting Work Opportunities, and Networking and Informational Interviewing.

Course 7: Contacting Employers: Takin' it to the Streets (15 activities) A wellspring of ideas, tools, strategies and guidelines for initiating and maintaining communication with employers. Sections include: Employers Up Close, Telephoning employers, Street Smarts.

Course 8: Interviewing with Ease: Mastering the Art of Self-Presentation (16 activities) This course fosters a proactive, self-marketing approach to interviewing and equips work seekers with the qualities, attitudes and skills needed to meet employers with calm and confidence. Sections include: Introduction to Interviewing, Preparing for an Interview, and Following Up the Interview.

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Purchasing more than one Library

Customers who have already purchased a complete set of the Cultivating True Livelihood (CTL) library, and wish to purchase additional sets, can either purchase additional complete sets at the regular price or purchase two or more additional sets on a “Right To Duplicate” (RTD) basis.

At the RDT prices, customers will be sent the CTL cover inserts, spine inserts, and tabbed dividers. The customer can then purchase binders (1 1/2" white with clear plastic exterior sleeving) and make duplicate copies from the pages in their original library – to compile the additional RTD sets purchased.

(Note: RTD is only an option for customers purchasing 2 or more additional sets. Also, customers who purchase 5 or more sets on an RTD basis, benefit from additional savings.)

Prices below are for EACH additional set ordered.

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Individual Course Purchase

The Cultivating True Livelihood Curriculum contains eight separate courses. Any of these courses can be purchased separately. To order, simply click on "Add to Cart" below. On the Shopping Cart page, you can select the title of the course that you wish to purchase. Simply repeat this process to order additional courses. (Please note that one User registration is free; but required.)

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