Temporary Work Program May Lead to Full-time Jobs
The SouthtownStar
September 7, 2010
A state worker training program, administered by Heartland Alliance, to get the unemployed and underemployed back to work this summer will likely result in real jobs for many Southland participants
From The SouthtownStar:
A state worker training program designed to get the unemployed and underemployed back to work this summer will likely result in real jobs for many Southland participants when the program ends in a few weeks, according to local employers.
Illinois responded to abysmally high state unemployment rates with Put Illinois to Work, which paid qualified parents and young people to learn jobs at businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Program organizers boast that the $10 an hour eclipses the state’s $8.25 minimum wage.
In Chicago’s south suburbs, where the unemployment rates tend to run higher than elsewhere around the city, folks in need of a paycheck clamored for open spots.
Now, happy with their workers, several south suburban businesses are going to make permanent offers to their temps once the program expires at the end of September.
The Ministers Conference of South Suburban Cook County welcomed 20 workers, said Kimberly Haynes. She’ll try to hold onto nine of them, pleased with their progress.
One young woman can set doctor’s appointments from the front desk of the Family Christian Medical Center in Harvey. A guy hired as a janitor turned out to have some basic computer skills. Now he’s teaching computer classes.
“We got a pretty diverse group we were able to work with and help out,” she said.
Put Illinois to Work harnessed federal stimulus money to find jobs for parents and young adults in need of work.
The state’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national average for the past several years, and solidly in double digits since May 2009.
After the program was announced in April, more than 60,000 people applied for jobs. The state was overwhelmed with more applicants than positions and stopped accepting applications.
But for those who got in early, the state’s Department of Human Services has been routing unemployed people to all kinds of entry-level jobs across the state for $10 an hour. Workers and employers commit to at least 30 hours of work a week until Sept. 30, when federal funding for the program runs out.
More than 600 businesses and organizations in the Southland are participating. That translates to about 9,000 people hired in Chicago’s south and southwest suburbs and on the South Side, according to a Department of Human Services spokesman.
In southern Cook County, many of the jobs have come from child care centers and other tiny businesses as well as dozens of churches.
Statewide, almost 26,000 people have been hired by 4,700 employers. As of mid – August, Illinois had used some $194 million in federal money. The state is eligible for up to $292 million.
“With this really difficult economy, it’s hard to get your foot in the door,” said Jill Geltmaker, who heads the program for Heartland Alliance, the agency coordinating Put Illinois to Work and cutting the paychecks. “Once people have a chance to do that, we really do have a fair number of people who are going to be moving into very strong employment opportunities.”
Heartland also worked with other community-based groups to help place workers with jobs and help applicants refine their job skills.
Heartland, a social service agency, made sure applicants qualified and checked them against the state’s sex offender registry. The agency also helped with criminal background screenings for employers who requested them, she said.
Any employers who break the rules – say by trying to lay off existing workers to rehire them on the government’s dime – get kicked out of the program, Geltmaker said.