Opening Doors

Many of our clients are out of work due to problems with substance abuse, mental illness, lack of education or stable family life, all of which contribute to their current situations. Our Opening Doors program is a natural outgrowth of our existing services that attempt to help individuals move beyond crisis intervention and into economic independence. We have a tremendous ability to connect with a large number of individuals from our client population and get them registered immediately for this employment skills training program. Our greatest challenge continues to be the transient nature of our population, and the inability on the part of some well-intentioned clients to make class times, or remember appointments, etc. These individuals are plagued by a variety of problems that hinder their ability to stay on track. These difficulties often make it almost impossible for our clients to pursue their goals, even when they desperately want to succeed. We are doing our best to overcome these challenges by maintaining stronger follow-up with clients, increasing our one-one-one job searches and making more of the training individualized to best address client need.

Opening Doors helps make clients aware of the CT Department of Labor One-Stop Centers, where they can receive individualized training and case management in their job search. In addition to helping clients become aware of opportunities at the One-Stop Centers, we offer on-site classes in ESL, computer literacy, life skills and employment skills for registered clients. We conduct on-line job searches with individuals in our computer classroom. The results include helping individuals into the program; getting them the training they need for employment, and then helping them find and retain those jobs. Core competencies have been designed for each class in conjunction with Capital Region Education Council personnel, to ensure that our clients meet measurable standards and that we achieve consistency in teaching.

Our newest component of the program, the "Jobs Link" offering, generates a tremendous amount of new clients, as well as returning clients who want to update their resumes and/or obtain new job postings. We are currently making an average of 7 appointments each week, and clients keep these appointments at a 70% rate. "Job Link" provides direct interaction with clients in the soup kitchen every Wednesday, providing current job postings pulled from the DOL web site weekly. Participants must first register for Opening Doors, and then are able to get appropriate job listings, make appointments for resume work and on-line job searches, as well as to apply to on-line postings.

We began the Opening Doors program in fall of 2003, and have now received several additional grants from the Federal Dept. of Labor. We continue to adapt the program as we learn from client successes and ongoing needs. During the most recent quarter of our current grant (January to March, 2008), Loaves & Fishes worked with 80 new individuals, many of who received skills assessment. Employment readiness training was provided to 14 individuals; 14 individuals also received job search services. Of these, 8 were placed in jobs. The program continues to be beneficial to our clients who are motivated to look for work. Goals also include less quantitative ideas including: increased self-confidence, creating good examples for children in the homes of clients, making clients aware of other programs offered at Loaves & Fishes Ministries.

We feel very positive as we assess this program after several years of development-the program has been beneficial to our clients who are motivated to look for work. The anticipated outcomes include helping individuals into the program, getting them the training they need for employment, and then helping them find and retain those jobs.

Our Clients’ Successes

1. Cynthia is a mother of a teenage daughter with serious mental health issues. In part because of this disability, Cynthia has always had trouble finding work that could accommodate he schedule and her daughter’s needs. She was existing on State assistance, food from our soup kitchen, and income gained through temporary work and piecemeal employment. Through work with our job counselor and the information about employment opportunities in the Hartford area provided to clients directly through our Job Links component, Cynthia found a job and was hired at a local Stop & Shop. She began work there as a grocery bagger, but has now expanded her responsibilities. Cynthia has overcome the job-hopping cycle that meant very unsteady income, lack of a reliable work history, and low self-confidence. The aspect of our DOL-supported program most important to Cynthia was our job search service and employment training information, along with the “Job Link” offering which provides direct job and contact information. Cynthia is now working more hours, with more responsibility, at the Stop & Shop where she was hired. She is better able to care for her daughter, who now has a better role model to look up to. Thanks to the DOL grant, we are better able to provide existing services in our Opening Doors program and also to increase our working relationship with the One-Stop system through intensified contact and better understanding of each other’s offerings.

2. Carlos lives near Loaves & Fishes, and has a background in food service. However, he was unable to find more than temporary work, partly due to inexperience with the job application process and partly due to a lack of confidence in his English. We were able to find him part-time work at a local university in their dining hall, but this proved temporary due to scheduling at the school. We referred Carlos to the local VNA which was in need of a cook for their PTSD in-house program. Because of his enhanced interview skills (worked on with our staff member) and increased self-confidence gained from his work at the university dining hall, he was hired. Carlos was able to overcome a previous inability to find work through help with his resume and interviewing skills. He has gained self-confidence and an understanding of the responsibilities attendant in holding down a job. Our program’s most important aspect for Carlos was the individual appointments for job search, resume creation, and employment training information working as many hours as possible

3. After months of looking for work, gaining temporary jobs only to be laid off, Lydia is now working in housekeeping for a local hotel. She is very excited about this opportunity, and is particularly proud to have obtained this job after the disappointment of previous layoffs. Our job search services enabled Lydia to learn about what is involved in finding a job, as well as made gaining that job possible (on-line application). She now has an income from her work, and greatly increased self-confidence. Lydia has overcome language barriers (English is her second language) and lack of knowledge as to how and where to go about looking for work. She has also learned a lot about proper interviewing techniques and self-presentation skills. Lydia’s brother is a regular client in our soup kitchen, and he has been so excited by Lydia’s example that he is now a registered Opening Doors client actively looking for his own job.

4. Another client, Lucius, reported on in our last quarterly update, has now maintained his current job for 3 months. We do not see him in our soup kitchen anymore due to his work schedule—an absence he is very proud of! He has learned the process of finding employment as well as maintaining that job once found. Lucius now feels confident about his abilities to hold down a job and do his work well. He has overcome the job-hopping cycle that meant very unsteady income, lack of a reliable work history, and low self-confidence.