Jobs for Life
Program helps inmates become valuable employees
By Tonya S. Grace, Special to the Kentucky New Era

Anthony Howard watched as his instructor reviewed an assignment during a recent class meeting, and as the familiar images played out on the computer screen in front of him, the young man came to a heartening conclusion.

He liked what he saw.

“I thought that I made progress, and I’ll be able to give a decent interview when the time comes,” said Howard, who was among the first group of inmates at the Christian County Jail to take part in a job training program offered by a local church.

For the past 16 weeks, members of the Southside Church of Christ have presented lessons to inmates as part of Jobs for Life — a Bible-based program that shows unemployed people how to have more self-confidence when they apply for a job and how to keep a job once they have one.

A second series of classes will begin at the jail later this month, and the 12-year-old program also is being used elsewhere in Christian County.

Challenge House I on Central Avenue is offering its own classes, and inmates who are released early and don’t finish classes at the jail are encouraged to complete their training at the Challenge House, according

to Phil Dunn, one of the jail instructors.

Dunn said his classes are built around a 60-second commercial — the PowerPoint presentations that Howard and others saw on their last night of instruction — which help participants learn firsthand how to sell themselves to a prospective employer.

“The inmates we’re working with are all coming from the substance abuse program,” noted Dunn, who is an associate minister at the Southside congregation as well as a human resources manager for TRAD in Hopkinsville.

“Most of them are there because of mistakes they’ve made,” he continued. “Our goal is to get them on the right track so they won’t go back.”

Dunn said that means helping the inmates build confidence in themselves and teaching them that they are good people with the ability to promote themselves to an employer.

In the jail classes, they learn how to dress properly for their interviews and new jobs, how to have good body posture, how to have complete honesty with their prospective employers — especially as it may pertain to time spent in jail.

“Hey, I’m glad you asked,” Dunn says as he gives an example of the way an inmate should approach a similar question posed by a perspective employer. “This is what happened, and I learned this from it and hope to do better.”

Workbooks for the class touch on self-confidence, job searches, resumes, job applications and community resources, they tell Bible stories using scripture that is printed directly on workbook pages, and they refer to role models in the Bible.

Old Testament characters like Jonah and Noah offer a real-life blueprint for handling situations that would require perseverance, for example.

The series of lessons was designed by a religious group to teach the biblical basics of a work ethic, and, according to Dunn, the lessons are based on the principle that people were created for good.

The associate minister described the program as a community outreach ministry for the members of his church. Member and volunteer instructor Nakisha Castillo called it a spiritual experience and one that gave her an opportunity to give back to the community.

She taught two classes for the program, the first on employer satisfaction and another with tips about advancing in your employment and learning to be an asset at work.

Castillo said working with the program has given her a different outlook on life, helped break down some stereotypes and allowed her to have fellowship with people she might not have known in other circumstances.

“I’m thankful for the experience,” she noted. “I’m just thankful to be in a position to help people, and I hope that maybe I can make a difference.”

Like Dunn, church member Brian Gates also has a background in human resources management, and he said he thought the things he has learned through the years about interviewing and hiring people could help the Jobs for Life participants find work.

Gates noted that some companies now are hesitant to hire people with criminal convictions, but he also said he believes that prospective employers likely will have to rethink this approach considering the shortage of qualified people for industry jobs.

Having been involved previously with a jail ministry in Mississippi, he said he thought that working with Jobs for Life at the Christian County Jail would offer him a good opportunity to help the local inmates.

“I think it’s a very good thing,” Gates observed.

Speaking to jail participants attending the most recent class, he offered a couple of pieces of advice to the perspective employees, including one suggestion that volunteer opportunities could provide contacts with people who could help them find a job.

Dunn offered a cautionary note: He explained that the current job market is tough, and he said the inmates likely would be told “no” a lot, despite their participation in the Jobs for Life program, he said.

“The economy is not good, and jobs are in a slump,” the associate minister observed. “But if there is no job, keep your mind and body active and keep prepared for when the jobs come.”

He noted that his congregation has had a good experience with the training program so far, and he said members are excited about it.

“Hopefully, by next year we will see some successes with it,” he said.

Program participant Timothy Foster noted that Jobs for Life has given him a lot of information about job interviews and taught him what to do and what not to do during a meeting with a perspective employer.

The Christian County inmate said he’s worked with construction in the past, remodeled houses and done some barbering, but now he’d like to pursue a career instead of a job.

His job history doesn’t match his future plans, but the Jobs for Life program should help with those plans, he said.

“It’s given me a lot of insight about how to prepare myself and what to expect,” observed Foster, a Louisville resident who is in the jail’s substance abuse program.

“I feel by being out of the job market and being locked up now, I needed some insight on how to get prepared for a job,” he added. “People want to know more about the people they hire.”

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