CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Jobs & Hope West Virginia was on full display Tuesday in West Virginia’s capitol.
Graduates and sponsors of the legislatively funded program set up booths and tables for lawmakers to stop at in between committee meetings and floor sessions.
Jobs & Hope, which was started by then-Governor Jim Justice in 2019, is set up to extend help to those in the state struggling with addiction and other barriers to find and maintain a job.
Residents that go through Jobs & Hope go through career training that ultimately leads to a job.
According to program director Deb Harris, Jobs & Hope has around 1,500 current participants and now 600 individuals have graduated from the program.
“We define that (a graduate) as when you’ve eliminated all the barriers you came to us with. You’ve obtained career employment, which is a good job that has a living wage, retirement, potential to be promoted in that job, and then you’ve maintained that career employment for three to six months,” Harris said on MetroNews “Talkline” Tuesday.
Jobs & Hope has 24 agents in the state that help those from all 55 counties. Residents in the program have to submit a monthly drug screen and have to meet with their respective agents.
Harris says there are unique opportunities for each person in the program.
“Based on what the participate says their end goal is, we try to find resources that are free to them,” she said. “We take advantage of the West Virginia Invest Grant that’s available to West Virginia residents who enroll in a two-year community and technical college, career and tech ed which is your welding, your CDL and things like that. We also have partnerships with the West Virginia Military Authority. They do a heavy equipment training at Camp Dawson.
“Anything and everything that you can think of,” she continued.
Harris also mentioned that participants can also work to obtain their GEDs. In that case, Jobs & Hope will refer them to West Virginia Adult Ed and help walk them through the GED process.
When a resident graduates, Jobs & Hope agents stay in touch for about a half a year to make sure the transition is going well.