Community Mainstreaming Associates is making strides with its e-commerce program.
The Westbury-based nonprofit’s e-Academy teaches participants about e-commerce, retail and helps prepare people for future employment opportunities.
Started in 2020, e-Academy training is an introductory program that exposes participants to selling merchandise on e-Bay and Facebook Marketplace. Each day, participants are involved in accepting and sorting donations, customer correspondence, working with the listing procedure on e-Bay, as well as picking, packing, purchasing postage and shipping.
At the academy’s inception, it started from the ground up, with no items listed on the selling platforms. But with the help of Jonathan Bailstock, a CMA resident and e-commerce specialist, there are now 4,000 items listed on the shop’s e-Academy site on e-Bay.
Bailstock has since taken on a leadership role at the academy. He helped sell merchandise to more than 1,000 customers. He helps coordinate the logistical operation, including shipping to all 50 states, organizing storage systems and listing items. And he’s helped perfect the 30-step listing process per item, work with the pricing of each product and coordinate with customers.
“While the main focus of e-Academy over the past few years has been to build a strong foundation, two people have ventured into other employment opportunities with a potential third on the way,” Kiernan Delaney, a spokesman for CMA told LIBN.
E-Academy has six employees, and four volunteers.
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