Woodland Action Center, a thrift store and food bank, now offers a job resource center to their clients. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
WOODLAND — The volunteers at Woodland Action Center don’t want any regular clients.
The new Employment Navigation Program, which opened in January, is the center’s next step in helping people who only need the center’s services for a limited time.
“We want to provide self-sufficiency,” said Jonathan Christopherson, chairman of the action center’s board. “We don’t want them to come in and just get food for the week. We want them to not need our services anymore.”
The new employment center has been in the works for more than a year. It recently opened thanks to a few grants and some volunteers. Woodland Action received a $15,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente Northwest that helped purchase client desks and computers, a program coordinator computer, printers and office supplies. The program also received a $3,000 grant from U.S. Bank, which helped buy furniture for the room. Volunteers helped paint the room, finish the flooring and give the room a homey feel.
There are eight computers in the center and one that is designated for Windows training. People can also bring their own laptops and hook them up to screens or use the room’s Wi-Fi.
The employment center is run by Kevin Hawley, the employment resource navigator, who said about 10 people have used his services so far. While the center will help with things like resumes and job searches, Hawley and Christopherson have a broad vision for what the program can be.
Already, Hawley has let people use the room to take a GED test and a food worker’s safety card exam. He set up a Skype interview for a client with a company in Arizona, where she was hoping to move. He’s been in contact with local schools to see if they would want bring in kids who might not have access to the internet or computers at home.
“As needs present themselves, we want to see if we can jump in and help,” Hawley said.
Hawley has also had contact with WorkSourceWa in Kelso and the Goodwill Work Opportunity Center of Cowlitz County in Longview about bringing some of their classes and services to Woodland Action.
“There’s not a ton of resources around here,” Christopherson said. “To get to Kelso and Longview or Vancouver, where there are services, that’s at least 20 minutes away. We want to be a place to facilitate access to those services closer for our community.”
The center is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Hawley said the idea was to open the room while the center’s food bank was open, so people could stop by while they were already at Woodland Action. He said most people have been walk-ins, and he thinks the center staying open a few more hours will help the clients.
“When you go to a library, you can get the computer for maybe one hour,” he said. “If you’re looking for jobs and applying to jobs, there’s not a whole lot you can do in one hour. Here, you can come in and spend five hours on it, if you want.”
Hawley has also been in contact with local companies looking for workers. He said some people looking to re-enter the work force are nervous, especially if they’re just getting out of prison or have a criminal record. Hawley has a list of local companies who hire employees who have been arrested, which ones want to conduct background checks on potential hires and which ones just need someone to pass a drug test and show up predictably.
To Help
The new Employment Navigation Program at Woodland Action Center, 736 Davidson Ave., Woodland, is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. To learn more about the employment program and food bank or find out about volunteer opportunities, call 360-225-9998.
The program is also designed to help employed residents move up from their current job to something else.
“A lot of our clients are working, but living at the poverty level,” Christopherson said. “There’s training we can do here to benefit people and help them find more career-type jobs.”
Christopherson and Hawley are hopeful more clients will continue to stop in the center’s program. The food bank serves about 2,000 individuals and roughly 600 households living around Woodland, Amboy, Yacolt, La Center, Cougar and Ariel. Christopherson said the food bank has about 45 percent turnover of its clientele every six months or so, which tells him the people using Woodland Action’s services are mostly using them in times of need rather than for the long term.
“These are crisis situations people find themselves in,” he said. “People are finding ways to get out of those situations, and we think we can use the center to help them get out of those situations even more quickly.”
