Wesley House Community Services: Women Finding Futures
by Rhoda Peters
Brenda Schlenski came to Louisville Works -- a welfare-to-work program of Wesley House Community Services in Louisville, Ky. -- to gain job skills. She anticipated taking an office job after completing eight weeks of computer training.
As she got acquainted with Wesley House, she discovered an environment in which she wanted to work. After completing her training, she learned of a vacancy in Wesley House’s child-care program. With the confidence gained from her training, she applied for the position.
Ms. Schlenski is now a valued worker at Wesley House. In her work, she met Alix, a developmentally-challenged child. Through working with Alix, Ms. Schlenski has discovered she is good at working with developmentally-challenged children.
Ms. Schlenski credits Louisville Works with giving her the skills and faith in herself to become a productive worker. She has come off welfare and discovered new meaning in her life.
Job skills taught
Louisville Works is one of two programs of Wesley House Community Services that are helping single mothers and a few fathers find their way from welfare to work. A second program -- Kairos Business Services –- provides job experience.
Louisville Works offers eight weeks of computer-software training. Participants learn Microsoft Word, Excel, Access and Power Point computer programs and receive training in writing resumes, dressing for work, interviewing for jobs and building confidence. They receive support in their job searches through referrals, written correspondence, and copying and mailing of resumes.
Most Louisville Works classes have eight to 10 students with 50-60 people participating annually.
Upon graduation, participants can seek jobs or apply for an eight-week internship with pay with Kairos Business Services, which provides office services, including bulk mailing, word processing, billing, database management, faxing and copying on a contract basis to individuals, entrepreneurs and small businesses in the greater Louisville area. Interns gain office experience while looking for full-time employment.
"Our goal is to help our students get the type of jobs that will enable them to provide for their families and grow through their work experience, so they do not have to return to public assistance," said Vickie Keene, development director at Wesley House.
Louisville works began in 1992 as Project Hope. By 1994, the program had been renamed Louisville Works.
Approximately 300 people have completed the program of which about 80 percent have found jobs. Most have not had to return to welfare assistance.
The 1996 changes in the welfare law prompted heightened interest and participation in Louisville Works. Kentucky regulations allow people up to five years to move off welfare. The state provides financial assistance with transportation and child care during job training.
The Kentucky Department for Family Services refers people to Louisville Works. Most of those referred are women, single heads of households, with one or more children. Some have GED certificates. Others choose to complete the GED after attending Louisville Works.
Serving the whole family
Renee Campbell Mapp, executive director of Wesley House Community Services, said Louisville Works and Kairos Business Services are successful because of their holistic approach to the lives of the people they serve.
"We have a view of the entire family, their needs and the barriers they face," Ms. Mapp said. "Often we are working with people with very low self-esteem who must first believe they can. We care about the whole person and the entire family, and work to help them build on their own strengths."
"The only way to help people make changes in their lives is to reach out and help them up. If we believe in people and tell them they can, then they’ll believe they can, and they will."
Terri Turner, Louisville Works graduate, explained how the program helped her. A single woman on welfare with three children and no job, Ms. Turner couldn’t get out from under a $3,000 student loan for a health-careers training program that went out of business before she could graduate.
"I was at a standstill," Ms. Turner said. "I was getting frustrated because I wanted to get off of assistance. I wanted to go to school. I was thinking, ‘Why won’t somebody just let me go to school?’"
The state referred Ms. Turner to the Louisville Works. The week after graduating from the program, she was offered a job as an administrative secretary.
"This class gave me the encouragement I needed to get my life back on the right track," Ms. Turner said.
Rebecca Martin also found help at Louisville Works. She had always done physical labor that involved heavy lifting until at 51, she had open-heart surgery. She found herself unemployable. She was referred to Louisville Works.
"I didn’t even know how to turn on a computer," Ms. Martin said. Upon completing her training, she applied for a job at Wesley House as an instructor for Louisville Work and later as head of the the Kairos program for a year. She is now a client counselor with Community Action Council of Southern Indiana.
"Louisville Works and Kairos Business Services give welfare-to-work clients a new door to walk through," Ms. Martin said. "Computer knowledge is essential in almost any job. Louisville Works is so much more than computer training. The program teaches you how to dress for business success, how to interview for a position, how to present yourself to a prospective employer. It’s a door to a whole new life for many of its graduates."
Additional services
Wesley House Community Services’ extensive day-care program and early childhood services are a real plus for those enrolled in Louisville Works and Kairos Business Services. Children can be cared for on site, while their parents train for jobs.
Individual and group counseling is offered and Wesley House is developing a program to help women involved in Louisville Works understand the root causes of domestic abuse and how to cope with violence. As women become more independent and employable, often the males in their lives become threatening and abusive. In partnership with the Center for Women and Families in Louisville, Wesley House helps women teach their children to avoid abusive family patterns.
Graduates of Louisville Works and Kairos Business Services are employed by major corporations in Louisville, such as the University of Louisville Hospital, Humana Health Care Services, Jefferson County Public Schools and several banks. The average pay rate for trainees entering the workforce is more than $8 per hour.
Most of the jobs they get offer opportunities for advancement. Graduates are often hired in data-entry positions and as general office assistants. Some graduates have advanced to the level of executive secretaries and administrative assistants.
Rhoda Peters is provost for Kentucky Conference and editor of its monthly publication, Netnews.