Grant to help find job or short-term training

Helping the unemployed is the goal of Missouri Job Center workers. In an effort to reach more people, the South Central WorkForce was awarded a Skill Up grant to assist people on food stamps with finding employment or paying for a short-term training program.

The grant enabled Alicia Davis, functional leader of the Missouri Job Center in Poplar Bluff, and her staff to reach out to inform others about the available services.

Davis and her team held two outreach events at the Job Center in Poplar Bluff and “we visited three outreach events in various counties. We personally handed out food and shared information about the Skill Up program, which ends May 31.”

While visiting area Bread Shed events in Butler, Carter and Ripley counties, they were armed with food as well as resources for people needing jobs or needing help gaining on-the-job training or classroom training. The visits, according to Davis, were about more than getting job help to the people.

“It is about them becoming more self sufficient, that is the whole goal of the Skill Up program,” she said.

In Butler County, they served almost 300 and Davis said, the group “will have touched up to 1,000 people.”

If someone is in need of job related assistance, Davis and her staff at Missouri Job Center will assist in finding a job or possibly paying for training to obtain skills for a better job.

Currently, the Skill Up program will offer a person truck driving training.

There are other ways and other programs the Missouri Job Center staff may be able to help those wanting to improve their future.

For addition information about the Skill Up program or to learn about other programs which might be available at the Missouri Job Center, call 573-840-9595 or visit the Job Center office at 1903 Northwood Drive Suite #2, Poplar Bluff.