GREAT Workers Available - Chesterfield Business News

The Greater Richmond Employment Assistance Team (GREAT) is a community effort of citizens, organizations, and businesses dedicated to providing welfare recipients and their families the opportunity to begin their journey to self-sufficiency through skills assessment, job readiness training and employment. The GREAT program not only helps individuals but aslo benefits the business community by providing an available labor pool that has received skills assessment, training and follow-up.

The GREAT Program was conceived to meet the mandates of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, which called for welfare recipients to find work if they were judged able to work. GREAT was born in July, 1997 as a partnership between the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Interim Personnel of Richmond (now known as Spherion Corporation), Mirror Enterprise, and the Departments of Social Services of the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico, and the City of Richmond.

The GREAT Program receives referrals from the Departments of Social Services of the partnering localities. Those welfare recipients deemed by their social workers to be qualified for and in need of the program are referred to GREAT.

ASSESSMENT: Candidates referred to GREAT first go through an extensive assessment and evaluation process to determine what skills and aptitudes the participant already has to offer to the employers in the community.

JOB READINESS: This element prepares candidates for a successful work experience, including getting a good job and holding it. This 3-week course begins with proper attitude issues essential for success in the workplace; moves to the “how-to” skills such as conflict resolution, resume building, and dressing for success; and concludes in the third week with everyday life skills training such as conversational exchanges with groups or individuals, listening skills, even help with budgeting and cooking tips for the soon-to-be-employed participant.

JOB PLACEMENT: Participants are referred for assistance in making connections with the available jobs that best suit their skills, attitudes and aptitudes. The extensive computer search capabilities of the program provide placement specialists with instant access to job opportunities of more than 600 local businesses.

TRAINING AFTER THE JOB – CSTA
The Customer Service Training Academy was introduced in March 1999 to provide qualified GREAT participants with much-in-demand skills in customer service and data processing operations. These higher paying skills, taught during an intensive five-week cession, enable participants to upgrade their job levels and move ever closer to self-sufficiency.

HELP AFTER THE JOB IS SECURED:
Getting a job is one thing; keeping it is another. Job retention is a huge challenge, which the GREAT Program not only accepts, but also embraces. The program’s success rate, expressed as the percentage of placed workers remaining on the job for at least 6 months, has climbed to 70%, thanks in large part to two additions to the GREAT Program:

GREAT PALS: Mentors help workers stay on the job, and the mentoring arm of the GREAT Program is called GREAT PALS (Partnering for A Life of Self-Sufficiency). Ms. Sandee Smith, GREAT’s Community Outreach and Special Projects Manager (and recently recognized as one of Richmond’s “Top 40 Under 40”), speaks regularly in area churches and non-profit organizations to promote PALS and recruit additions to the all-volunteer staff of over 125 mentors. (To learn more about if you can qualify as a GREAT Pal, contact Sandee at 222-0400)

GREAT CARS: Dependable transportation helps a worker keep the job. Donated cars from individuals and companies are repaired through area mechanics’ training centers with no labor costs, keeping the repair costs and consequently the selling prices low to the welfare-to-work participant. Loans up to $2500 are provided through First Market Bank, but the car costs are generally in the $500 – $1200 range. The GREAT Cars program helps workers

Keep their existing jobs
More easily handle child care transportation problems
Lead to better jobs which might not be accessible without private transportation

Eliminating welfare transportation costs by providing cars for working welfare recipients is having a huge financial impact. (To learn more about the GREAT Cars Program or how you can benefit from donating your car, call Tony Wilson, Executive Director, at 788-0050).

Dennis Galligan, co-creator and past Executive Director of the GREAT Program, had this to say in the foreword to this year’s Annual Report, “GREAT’s goal is not just to help our graduates get jobs, but to help them become self-sufficient. We provide a hand up, not a hand out. GREAT graduates are extremely marketable in today’s economy. It’s a win-win situation for everybody. As welfare recipients are given the tools to maintain productive life-styles, the entire Greater Richmond area benefits.”

The GREAT Program is working. Since the start of the program, more than 1300 welfare recipients have been placed in jobs through the GREAT Program. Over 600 employers have enjoyed the benefits of hiring GREAT participants or have expressed an interest in doing so.

When someone from GREAT is hired, everyone benefits!