New jobs program makes impact

WAPAKONETA - A job program for income-eligible participants that began this spring has reaped success in Auglaize County.

About 86 percent of those who completed the Steps to Success program have a job or are in a work-training program with a job waiting after completion, according to Amy Freymuth, business administrator for Auglaize County Job and Family Services.

"If you want to work and can pass a drug test, you can get a job," she said.

The JFS agency refers clients to the program, which is managed by the Lima Allen Council on Community Affairs and held in a wing leased at Auglaize Acres in Wapakoneta.

LACCA in September 2014 took over for Sources Community Network Services and helps needy individuals in Mercer, Auglaize and Allen counties.

The Steps to Success program helps people who are searching for jobs compile resumes, work on interview skills, financial literacy, nutrition, self-esteem building, stress management and work ethics, and become more job-ready, Freymuth said Thursday during a meeting with Auglaize County Commissioners.

The program runs in six-week sessions and about 43 people have completed it since it began in May.

Enrollees can earn incentives such as gift cards to pay for interview clothes, tools or items for jobs as they progress through the program and keep the position for 90 days, she said.

After completing the program, clients receive case management and work support from LACCA, Freymuth said.

Full eligibility requirements and registration are available at ohiomeansjobs.com.

Officials want to continue the program and hope the county's Workforce Investment Opportunity Act board will partner with businesses for the program, Freymuth said.      WIOA will be integral in keeping the program running, she added.

In other business Thursday, Auglaize County officials are looking for someone in the private sector to serve as a WIOA board member. The search was discussed by commissioners, executive director Mike Marrow of Auglaize County Department of Job and Family Services and Freymuth.

Commissioners from Auglaize, Mercer, Hardin and Van Wert counties can each choose three private-sector board members as part of the 19-member WIOA board, a federal mandate adopted by the state.

Auglaize County already has two private sector members and is looking for a third. Letters of interest can be submitted to the commissioners' office at commissioners@auglaizecounty.org.

The remaining unfilled seven seats on the board are mandated to be filled from various fields such as veterans or education, Freymuth said.

The full duties and actions of the board members have not been finalized, she said. One already established duty of the board is to support the Steps to Success program.