Transformation in St. Louis, Missouri
Barbara Hazelwood
July 2009

Jobs for Life has been pursuing its mission to "Elevate the power of work to transform lives" for thirteen years, and for ten of those years, Ken Jenkins has been actively involved in the journey.  He was first introduced to the program when he was asked by Jubilee Community Church of St. Louis, Missouri to teach a Jobs for Life class that they were hosting.  Ken's twenty years of head-hunting experience made him an ideal choice for instructing others in the fine art of seeking, gaining, and maintaining meaningful employment.  Now, ten years later, Ken has become the executive director of the Job Alliance program, which continues to use the Jobs for Life curriculum as it reaches out into its community to aid the unemployed.
 
What Ken appreciates most about the Jobs for Life curriculum is that it interweaves Biblical principles with practical employment application; that is what differentiates it from other employment aids.   As he tells people who are interested in joining the program: "You don't need Job Alliance to get a job... [Jobs for Life Training] changes and transforms hearts; it gives people a different vision for their life."  Over the past ten years, Ken has seen these transformations occur first hand, through the lives of over three-hundred and fifty successfully graduated students.  Each of these students has a story, but in the spring of 2008 Ken was able to watch a particularly unique and surprising story unfold.
 
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Clarence Garland was a sixteen-year-old, high school sophomore when he became interested in joining the Job Alliance program.  The Jobs for Life curriculum was designed for adults, and had never been offered to high school students, so Ken Jenkins had to specially approve the request.  The fact that Ken could see that Clarence "wasn't your typical high school student" helped make a positive decision easier; as well the fact that Clarence's own mother had also been accepted into the program. Permission was granted and Clarence came along side a handful of other adults in order to learn practical lessons about the value and the pursuit of employment.  Ken chose not to modify the Jobs for Life curriculum at all; instead, allowing Clarence to step up to the same plate as the other adults in the class.  And Clarence did so with great enthusiasm and determination.  As Ken recounts, "[He] jumped right in and impressed everyone he met."
 
One of the people whom Clarence had the chance to meet was a local businessman, Jon Baker of Wiese USA, a material handling equipment company.  Prior to the spring of 2008, Jon had had the chance to attend an informational luncheon organized by Jubilee Community Church, for those interested in supporting or volunteering with the Job Alliance program.  This initial contact eventually led to Jon's first involvement with the program, as a guest businessman in one of the "employer round tables," which are a normal part of any Jobs for Life class.  This class was the one in which Clarence was enrolled, and in which Clarence and Jon - an "Afro-American kid with dreadlocks" and an "old, white guy" - were given an unlikely opportunity to interact.
 
During the employer round table, Clarence struck up a lively conversation with Jon.  Clarence impressed Jon by being aggressive in his questioning and by exhibiting a strong interest in learning.  Jon recalls that there was a "sense of desire about [Clarence] that caused him to stand out."  At the end of their conversation together, Clarence boldly asked Jon for a job.  It took a few minutes for Jon to carefully explain why he wasn't able to hire anyone at that time.  Clarence, still high-spirited, gave Jon a big and unexpected hug, a wide smile, and a hearty "thank you," leaving Jon with an impression that he couldn't shake on his drive home that evening.
 
Jon already understood that God had given him a heart for coaching and helping young people.  As he drove home, he felt that the Lord was leading him to develop a mentoring relationship with Clarence.  Since Jon had learned throughout his life that, "when God puts something on your heart, you do it," he didn't put off the notion even for a day.  Before he had made it back to his own driveway, Jon called up Ken Jenkins and started to talk through what that relationship might look like.  And now, a year later, that relationship has blossomed into something rich and rewarding.
 
Jon and Clarence see each other every one or two weeks. Sometimes it's a formal meeting; sometimes it's as simple as Jon showing up to one of Clarence's football games. Regardless, Jon always makes sure that Clarence's mother is comfortable with any new activity. Throughout these interactions, Clarence, who was not able to have much of a connection with his own father, is able to receive advice, pointers, and what he calls "fatherly things" from a man whom he respects. And he always seems to receive these things without pushing Jon's words away. As Jon put it, "If you coach him on something, he understands, he listens and he remembers."
 
Clarence has now wrapped up his junior year of high school and has his sights set on college. Jon encourages Clarence to keep on track academically, and has developed a rapport with the administrators at Clarence's high school in order to stay in the loop. However, Clarence also credits the Jobs for Life class with helping him to become more focused on developing his own skills and on going to college. He says that, if he hadn't taken the class, he would be "living in the moment more," and less motivated to pursue long-term educational goals. As it stands now, Clarence has wrapped up this past semester with all A's, and is hoping to enter an engineering program next fall.
 
When asked to describe the Jobs for Life experience, Clarence said that is was, "A good point to start at if you want to better yourself... [to] work on the way you talk, on the way you interview." Throughout the Jobs for Life curriculum there is a consistent focus on the journey; the course is definitely not a quick-fix solution - it is, as Clarence pointed out, a starting place. It's the beginning of a transformation. One of the most powerful things that the Jobs for Life curriculum does is bring together people who would otherwise have never met. Clarence and Jon experienced this first hand. These are the lessons that last beyond the course, and that flowed out into the surrounding community. These are the lessons that leave a lasting impact.