Christian Job Corps centers helping women return to work force
- Sep 13, 2008
Campbellsville, Ky.—[Sept. 1, 2008 marked] the 114th anniversary of Labor Day’s designation as a federal holiday, intended to celebrate workers and give them a day off.
While to Sylviana Bridgewater Sept. 1 means little more than a day of rest, she rejoices in her working status, thanks to help she received from the Christian Women’s Job Corps.
Started by Woman’s Missionary Union in 1997, last year it served nearly 2,800 women and men nationwide (a companion male effort started in 2004). There are 215 sites nationally and programs in Moldova, Liberia and Mexico. Kentucky Baptists maintain four sites for women in Campbellsville, Somerset, Cadiz and Hopkinsville.
The largely volunteer ministry offers job training, life education classes, Bible study and personal mentoring, all which helped Bridgewater rejoin the work force two years ago. Prior to her Job Corps experience, the mother of a teenage daughter was unemployed and separated from her husband.
“At that time in my life, I didn’t see a way out,” Bridgewater recalled. “I felt hopeless and my self-esteem was low. It was hard.
“My Job Corps mentor encouraged me to get up and get out. It helped a lot. It definitely showed me how to be more independent.”
Today, she is an administrative assistant for Independent Opportunities, an Eastern Kentucky social services agency that helps people with mental retardation and development disabilities.
Although Bridgewater received computer training, site coordinator Debbie Carter said its current emphasis is on mentoring and helping clients set goals.
“The relationships are the heart of Christian Women’s Job Corps,” noted Carter, a professor of social work at Campbellsville University. “It’s having someone in their life to build a relationship with, whom women can trust and will give them unconditional love and acceptance.”
In addition to periodic job training, the Campbellsville site sometimes helps women obtain counseling or other assistance to pave the way to better employment.
Carter said she hopes to expand services after a homeless shelter opens this fall. Also serving as a community center, the new facility will enable them to offer regular classes and computer training, she noted.
The Campbellsville center reflects the average Job Corps site, according to C. Jean Cullen, ministry consultant at WMU’s headquarters in Birmingham, Ala.
Although there are some large operations serving up to 100 women at a time, most are small and work with about eight women, Cullen explained. In addition to job training and mentoring, she said many have additional services, such as food closets and GED classes.
Since its inception, the program has served nearly 26,000 people. Though difficult to say how many of those found jobs as a result of the Corps, nearly 1,300 of them are currently employed, Cullen said.
“The good thing about this model is that it fits into any community,” she added. “We require sites to complete needs assessments and offer things that are not offered in their area…the model works well in both metro and rural areas.”
In Hopkinsville, the latest set of 12-week classes started Aug. 5, according to Arlene Miller, co-site coordinator.
Eight women currently are in the program, which offers various job training and life skills classes. The latter includes parenting courses that are popular among single mothers and grandmothers who are raising grandchildren.
Based at Christian County Baptist Association offices, the ministry is promoted through a food and clothing ministry with which Miller also works.
Although the site helped 27 women last year, many already had jobs but came for the support of a small group and instructions that help them cope with life, Miller explained.
“One woman said, ‘I’m not looking for a job, I’m looking for a group of ladies who can pray for me,” Miller recalled. “What really encourages me is when I hear someone way, ‘Your program has helped me so much I encouraged my friends to come.’”
The one-hour training and education classes are followed by one hour of Bible study, the latter taught by volunteers from Christian County Association member churches. Mentors assigned to each woman also come from association churches.
The spiritual emphasis is a key to the success of the program, according to the co-site coordinator Linda Moore.
“Bible study is important for young women who have had few successes in life and are down on themselves,” she noted. “They need love in their life.”
They also need personal support, such as the woman struggling just to attend classes to earn her GED. Sometimes she would get physically ill when she thought about going because her self-esteem was so low, Moore pointed out.
“It took her a long time to get the courage up to go,” Moore said. “It took a lot of encouragement on our part to help her see she could do this.”
Getting an education is a common problem for many clients in Hopkinsville; the majority dropped out of school and are single mothers. Sometimes the Job Corps site will provide transportation so their clients can get to their jobs, Miller explained.
No matter what the assistance or where it is offered, women like Sylviana Bridgewater appreciate it.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “They were about (offering) classes free of charge. That means a lot when you’re struggling.”
This article is reprinted from the August 26, 2008, issue of the Western Recorder, the newspaper of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
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