Community Jobs

Since 1998 Career Path Services, in partnership with the Department of Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED), has been assisting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) parents progress toward self-sufficiency by providing valuable work skills and experience.

Through relationships with a wide range of worksites and employers we are able to place parents into paid and non-paid work experiences that help parents to:

Career Path Services is also able to provide:

 

How it works

Your WorkFirst Program Specialist will refer you to Career Path Services for either the Community Jobs Program (CJ) which is a paid work experience or one of the three Supported Work Programs (SW) which are structured, unpaid work opportunities.  Both programs can last up to six months. As a next stage, you’ll be matched with one of our Employment Associates to develop an action plan and to be assigned to a host site.

While the main focus of the CJ program is to obtain full-time employment, the SW Programs are ideal for parents who need work experience while they are waiting for an activity to start (Community Service), need to obtain the  experience necessary to obtain employment in a chosen career field, (Community WEX) or are facing multiple barriers to employment (Community Works).

 

One customer's story

Rehabilitation efforts are worth it

BY REBECCA NAPPI
The Spokesman-Review
April 6, 2008

 

Jill Murray loves her job. If she could safely climb on the roof of the Habitat Store at the corner of Trent Avenue and Hamilton Street, she would do so and shout out her joy. She's 32 years old. Five years ago, she and her husband cooked meth in their apartment.

They got caught. Their son was taken away. They both went to prison. I've been tracking Jill's post-meth journey since July 2004, when she was getting ready to check into the prison system. We talked again two years later when she got out and was living at St. Margaret's Shelter for homeless women and children in Spokane.

Recently, Jill and I connected for a third time at the Habitat Store. She gave me a tour. Contractors donate new building supplies, and there are used appliances, sinks and toilets. Jill works every day around secondhand building materials. She appreciates the parallel with her personal life. She and her husband, and their 8-year-old son, have all reunited. They are building their sober, second-chance life together.

Jeff Howard is the Habitat Store director. Jeff comes across as a save-the-world-a-person-at-a-time boss, but he's also an astute businessman. He stressed that the store is not a social service agency. Its purpose is to raise money to build Habitat for Humanity homes. But dozens of men and women work or volunteer at the store through programs for hard-to-place workers or because they must fulfill community service requirements.

Jeff interviewed Jill for a warehouse assistant manager job in October. Jill had been at the store for three months through a Career Path Services community jobs program. Jeff liked her work ethic. When he looked over Jill's application, he saw that she had checked yes to the felony question. In the interview, Jill explained about her meth manufacturing conviction. Jeff was surprised. For one thing, Jill's teeth are intact. She didn't lose them to meth rot.

Jeff received 30 applications for the job. He admits now: "If I had not known Jill, I would have set the application aside."

Jill works five days a week, from noon to 6 p.m. She organizes the workers and the volunteers who sort donations, stock shelves and clean the warehouse. She has a commanding voice, and she's not afraid to delegate.

A worker came up to Jill as she showed me around the store. He couldn't figure out how to fill in his time sheet.

Jill yelled, "David! Can you help him?"

In April, the newspaper's focus is on making our kids part of all of our business. Jill is an example of what happens when the system works for determined people. But let's not be in denial how much money and community involvement this requires.

Jill credits St. Margaret's Shelter for providing early support. She also thrived at Summit View, a housing community. Both Catholic Charities ventures rely on donations and volunteers. Jill credits her prison term with teaching her life skills she uses on the job. Taxpayers funded her therapeutic prison courses at Pine Lodge Corrections Center in Medical Lake, and they paid for her son's two years in foster care with his godparents. Career Path Services, which enabled Jill to enter the job force, is funded by local, state and federal contracts. You get the idea.

Sigmund Freud famously said that "love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness." For abused kids, the love part gets messed up. Then, because of that mess, some grow into young adults who commit crimes, get felonies on their records and can't find work. Some take their frustrations out on their children. The cycle continues.

So is it worth our time and money to help the Jills among us? Go to the Habitat Store and ask for Jill. She'll shout her answer from the rooftop.

 

Eligibility requirements

To participate in either Community Jobs or Supported Works, you must be referred to Career Path Services by your WorkFirst Program Specialist and be receiving TANF..  

 

Find out more

Ask your WorkFirst Program Specialist whether Community Jobs or Supported Work are right for you or e-mail the program manager

Call our office at (509) 326-7520 and ask about Community Jobs or Supported Work

You can also download our application for services.