Helping those with barriers to employment find jobs is the work of this agency

Podcast

The low unemployment rate has employers dipping deeper into the pool of available labor. Many shut out in the past are now finding open doors. Tom Martin talked with David Boggs, President and CEO of Opportunity for Work and Learning (OWL, Inc.).

Q: What does Opportunity for Work and Learning — known as OWL — do?

A: OWL is a nonprofit agency that began in 1961 with a mission of helping individuals with barriers to employment. Since that time, approximately 250 individuals every year receive our services to help them become independent and self-sufficient.

Recently we launched a new program through the city of Lexington for anyone not just reentering from the court systems, but also if they’ve been out of employment for awhile. We’ve also started a program for SNAP — Supplemental Needs Assistance Program —participants, those individuals receiving food stamps. We are helping them become employable and get back into the workforce. And we have another program for out-of-school youth, 16 to 24 years old to help them become employment ready and to get their life on track.

Q: What sorts of barriers are the individuals who come to OWL looking to overcome to find a job?

A: They may have a physical disability, a mental barrier or a social barrier. The pathway is pretty wide open because of the needs that our services provide assistance for, but we are willing to help them get whatever pathway they need. All receive individualized assistance.

Q: Can you give us some examples of how you work and how you help your clients overcome these barriers?

A: Well, the biggest barriers that everybody coming to our organization has is just daily work skills. We hear about “soft skills” all the time and now, we’re referring to it as essential skills in the job market: showing up to work on time, being able to communicate with others, having basic reading and math skills, and being able to work together as a team.

Even individuals that have been incarcerated for some time, they come to us and they haven’t had to make those tough decisions so we help them get their lives back on track by getting them through our manufacturing environment at the Lexington Manufacturing Center.

Q: It’s been awhile since our economy has experienced such fierce competition for workers. The last time the unemployment rate was this low was around 2000 when it dipped to 3.8 percent. It’s now about 4.1 percent. How are these tight labor market conditions influencing OWL’s relationships with employers in the area?

A: OWL is finding a great number of employers looking for new ways to get their employees because the labor market is so slim right now and the reality is that anyone that really wants to work can work at a job that is best fitted for their abilities, whether that’d be a physical disability or a mental disability or reentering after incarceration.

OWL has these relationships with over 75 employers within our region that will employ someone that may be reentering the workforce after incarceration. A lot of times employers are hesitant to do this at first, but they find after they worked with these individuals that they can make great employees and many are truly ready for a second chance.

Q: An example cited in by the New York Times is Dane County, Wis. Madison is the county seat. The unemployment rate in Dane County was just 2 percent in November, so demand for workers there has grown so intense that manufacturers are now hiring inmates at full wages to work in factories even while they are still serving their prison sentences. State officials in Wisconsin say it’s giving inmates a chance to build some savings, to learn vocational skills, and prepare for life after prison. Are you seeing this happening in Kentucky?

A: Yes. We are finally coming to grips with the fact that 99 percent of those incarcerated in our state will be released. If we do not provide them with some type of job skills or some type of transitional reentry skills, they will recidivate. From 2012 to 2016, our prison population in Kentucky grew by 54 percent. Employers are saying, ‘Hey, how can I help, how can I change my rules, how can we work together?’ And so, the Department of Corrections in Frankfort is looking for new innovative ideas and they’re looking to some of these other states to see what they’re being successful with.

Q: How is somebody who is currently serving time successfully integrated into a workforce of law abiding citizens? How does that work?

A: It’s up to the individual employer who they work with and sometimes they’re very hesitant. But, we have a very good employment transition program at OWL. We currently have nearly 60 employees and 50 percent have some kind of criminal background of misdemeanors or felony convictions. And so, we get them stabilized, we help them build a new resume that proves that they are work ready. And thenwe present them to an employer. If they can get employment, healthcare and housing they can be successful reentering. And employers are glad to welcome them.

Q: Does the working inmate receive all of that paycheck or does a portion go to corrections to offset costs?

A: That situation depends the institution. Certainly there are programs within the prison system where they do different types of job training and they get paid for that. The bigger portion of that goes to the facility itself because they are bearing the expense of that individual, but the inmate does get part of that money to assist with their reentering needs. However, OWL does not charge for the services that we provide.

Q: Are you seeing, firsthand, lives being changed?

A: Yes. And it’s so exciting to see someone come in that doesn’t have a home to get stability and then better their life by first getting a place to live, then, being able to get their own transportation and then, getting those paychecks and being able to do things that they wanted to do.

This story was originally published January 28, 2018 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Helping those with barriers to employment find jobs is the work of this agency."