Finding a firm financial footing: Bartholomew County Works gives employees a chance at economic independence

Waitress April Buckley feels as if the nonprofit Bartholomew County Works program has provided her with just what she needed right when she needed it.

A livelihood with solid support. Renewed self esteem. Job coaching. Life encouragement and counseling. A new start.

So where would the 34-year-old Bucceto’s Pizza &Pasta employee be without such a program that she says has turned around her life?

Floundering, she said.

“To some, it might look like I’m failing,” Buckley said, surmising that some might look down on those in the service and hospitality industry. “But I have busted my butt and come a long way.”

The single mom of youngsters ages 10, 13, and 15 was without a job for 18 months in recent years recovering from cervical cancer. But now, because of the free job training and employment program under the umbrella agency of the Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center, Buckley is regaining her independence, her confidence and her hope for solid financial footing.

The program, launched by United Way of Bartholomew County with a Lilly Endowment grant in 2014, is one tool to help local unemployed or underemployed workers and those living in poverty develop skills to secure higher-paying jobs and economic self-sufficiency.

Randy Allman, executive director of Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center, has seen that Bartholomew County Works is assisting once-struggling employees in succeeding.

“Right now we’re reaching out to those who maybe haven’t had the best employment record, or those who simply may be seeking their first actual, full-time position,” Allman said. “There is a big difference between walking into a job on the first day with all of your employment-record baggage that could prevent you from keeping that job, compared to someone with Bartholomew County Works, who is specifically trained to be ready for whatever is coming down the pike — and with the help of a full-time job coach to navigate through any barriers.

“That’s one of the main ideas we want to get out to the public. … We have the resources and the expertise to help people directly address and solve nearly any work issue they possibly could have.”

That ranges from a work-related wardrobe to transportation. The program is especially significant because United Way of Bartholomew County, the program funder which reaches about one-third of the county population with its outreach, has made residents’ financial stability a key part of its local mission for the past several years.

Dawn Bieberle directs the program and organizes regular, week-long, job readiness workshops at YES Cinema and Conference Center in downtown Columbus for prospective employees. Those who complete such training then have access to Bieberle and others for job-related help and support for as long as they need it.

She recently placed one program graduate into a $20 per hour manufacturing job, which she sees as great. But Bieberle considers far more than just solid pay when assessing workers’ path to success.

“We can have someone making something like $20 per hour, but maybe they still could be doing drugs or still couch surfing (with no home),” she said. “Judging success is seeing a worker pursue goals … If people are being successful, they are building a home (life), and equity and wealth, not just financially, but building a kind of wealth in their personal life.”

Goals for program participants can include paying off debt, earning a GED, getting a driver’s license and more.

Bieberle’s overall goals for 2022 for the program include strengthening relationships with area employers; building added awareness among employers of what Bartholomew County Works can do for them, especially amid a current worker shortage; and organizing a new workshop training program by May or June for current high school seniors planning to enter the workforce right out of high school instead of attending college.

Bucceto’s Manager Julian White also is a product of Bartholomew County Works. He mentioned that the program helped give him the focus and drive to work his way from busboy to his current position in two years. White sought help to jumpstart his work life after getting out of prison.

“I’ve turned my life around,” White said, adding that Bartholomew County Works was a piece of that turnaround. “The help came at the right time for me — at a time when I was ready to listen. I am living proof that, if you really want it, you can change your life.”

White appreciated the fact that the program offered a big-picture view of changing his focus.

“There was a lot of very useful stuff in there (in the training),” White said, adding that the training stretches far beyond the work place. “It’s stuff you can use in the actual foundation of your life.”