By Stephen Smoot
Although many parts of West Virginia still offer valuable opportunities for jobs and careers, many who would benefit still find barriers in their path. Sometimes that comes in the form of lacking skills needed to break into an in-demand position. Others find that they need to develop interpersonal communication skills to even get consideration in the first place.
Unfilled opportunities also mean longer waits for needed business services, such as health care, home construction or refurbishing, and automobile repair. Those not filling them also miss out on establishing a career in which they can thrive and support a family.
The Eastern Panhandle Instructional Cooperative supports the State’s educational system and needs in this section of West Virginia. EPIC serves Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Monongalia, Morgan, Pendleton and Tyler counties, as well as the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind and multi-county vocational centers.
As John Holmes, regional adult education coordinator for EPIC explains, a new program will help to provide tools and skills for adults to find workforce success. That program bears the name Strategic Planning for Occupational Knowledge and Employment Success, shortened to SPOKES.
“The end result of the program is for clients to become employed and independent,” shared Holmes.
Eastern Action’s Family Support Center in Franklin will serve as the host site while the SPOKES team at EPIC will administer the program. That includes participant vetting and selection. Neither Eastern Action nor its Family Support Center will recruit or enroll individuals into the program at this point.
Eligible participants will come from those enrolled in the WV Works program, part of which distributes funds from the the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Many of these participants also qualify for food stamps and Medicaid. SPOKES represents a vital part of the WV Works mission, which includes, as the website states “educational programs including assessment, vocational training, college, job skills related to employment, and education related to employment.”
Eastern Action will serve as a partner with EPIC and the West Virginia Department of Human Services to help ensure that the program has the best possible impact.
The Franklin FSC will host the program to help those with limited access to transportation and cannot get to the “brick and mortar facility” in Moorefield. Holmes noted that SPOKES clients would have a particularly tough time getting there.
Holmes also shared that SPOKES “is the brainchild of Tina Faber.” Faber serves as director of the Division of Family Support, Bureau of Family Assistance in the Department of Human Services.
“She tasked us with going out to remote areas,” said Holmes, who went on to add that the locations targeted were “Pendleton, Grant, and Morgan counties.” In each, Holmes found a site to host a classroom. There, students will take instruction over an online virtual meeting service, possibly Zoom, from a Jefferson County-based teacher.
While students could access the classes from home, virtual education can be significantly more distracting and inhibit retention of what they are taught. The classes, referred to as “modules” can help in a broad variety of ways. Classes can lead to acquiring recognized and marketable skill sets, such as through Microsoft Office certification. Others focus on vocational training, customer service, and more.
The program is tentatively planned to start in October, but that could change. Jenny Tingler, who helps to administer the program, noted that students can come to receive instruction and also work on completing their modules, but they will be asked to make a time schedule and to also stick to it.
Developing the good habits of productive workers, such as coming to work on time and being accountable for not meeting expectations or commitments, is seen as an essential aspect of the program. Additionally the number of workstations will be limited which makes a schedule all that much more necessary.
Holmes listed habits emphasized, including working as a team, setting goals, crafting a resume, interview skills, and more.
Edna Mullenax, who directs the FSC in Franklin, explained that she had been working on what she called a “business station” to accomplish many of the same goals as SPOKES. “I’m excited about this,” she said.
