Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | September 2, 2024 | wbjournal.com SOUTH HIGH COMMUNITY SCHOOL | W O R C E S T E R , M A DOHERTY MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL | W O R C E S T E R , M A NELSON PLACE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL |W O R C E S T E R , M A As a fourth-generation, family-owned business—and one of the state's original "green" school builders—the Fontaine name guarantees quality, safety, and sustainability in the construction of public, private, and independent schools and colleges. Everyone at Fontaine is committed to doing our very best for the educational facilities we work on every day. Diversity and inclusion have long been core to our approach to hiring our workforce and working with subcontractors and suppliers. Our business is only as strong as the people we hire, and by bringing in people of all backgrounds, we believe that we're able to better serve our clients and our community. 510 Cottage Street, Springfield, MA 01104 12 East Worcester Street, Worcester, MA 01604 413-781-2020 | fontainebros.com SYNONYMOUS WITH SCHOOLS SINCE 1933 F O C U S D I V E R S I T Y & I N C LU S I O N Continued from previous page "I understand now, the people [with] disabilities are the same [as] me, not different. Because I see today, but I don't know tomorrow. I [could have a] disabil- ity tomorrow," he said. Casseus' wife graduated from the pro- gram's fourth cohort, and one of his sons is participating in its fih. For Casseus, the career the HSCS program helped him achieve continues to give back. "When you help people, you help you, too," he said. Embracing diversity Participants come from diverse coun- tries, and with that, comes a compilation of cultural differences the program addresses head on, said Fagboore. "What we've adopted in our class is to ensure that people understand and identify these differences and use that as a strength rather than being a weakness. We learn those differences and allow the members of the class to learn those cultures as well," he said. Included in these cultural differences are contrasting beliefs and approaches to addressing mental health. With differing norms and beliefs comes the need for support, said Forman. e program's team is equipped with staff navigators who have the cultural competency and the trauma-informed training needed when working with populations from different cultures and backgrounds. "We have to have that understand- ing that the way that other people may think of mental health and the way that we do things here in the United States is very different, but also understanding that we embrace and foster people coming into and training us as well, because we learn a lot from them," said Forman. When issues arise, Forman said the team addresses them immediately and provides clinical support when needed. "Having that cultural competence, having that cultural sensitivity and hu- mility is really important with the work that we do," she said. at clinical support can prove espe- cially important when participants are going through sensitivity training, which illustrates the challenges faced by the Omo Fagboore, career pipeline manager for Open Sky in Worcester

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