What is an Active Employer Council?

The Job Squad Inc. Active Employer Council is a group of business owners and other community members from the Bridgeport and Clarksburg area. The council's purpose is to assist job-seekers in securing community employment and/or self-employment. Job-seekers present resumes or provide other information at monthly meetings in order for council members to learn about their past employment experiences, interests, education, etc... Council members then use their personal and professional connections to provide leads or other useful information to job-seekers and their Career Counselors to follow up on. Two job-seekers who were assisted in obtaining employment are John White and Regina Ford. With the council's assistance, John has secured his first job with Glotfelty Tire in Bridgeport. John is proud to be part of the Glotfelty team and is really enjoying his experience there. Regina has started her own business-"Gina's Jewels" and made her first sale to Artworks, a gallery/gift shop in Bridgeport. This sale was made possible by council member, Lotus MacDowell. You can read more about John and Regina in the Active Employer Council section of this blog. You can also learn more about Active Employer Councils and Customized Employment by clicking on the Griffin-hammis link of our blog.

Anthony Begins Wage Job--Business Start-Up Coming Soon!

Anthony Frye (pictured, above) began a wage job at Sunfire Tanning on November 30th. Anthony was featured in a previous entry , when he received the GED Student of the Year Award for the State of WV.

Anthony, with the support of his family and the owner of Sunfire tanning, is about to submit a Plan To Achieve-Self-Support (PASS) with the goal of starting his own Tanning and Spa business. He is working a small amount, about 6 hours a week, to explore the goodness-of-fit of the work environment.

If approved by the Social Security Administration, the PASS will help Anthony obtain the resources needed during the critical "start-up" period of his business.

More to come!

Our Interns

Two graduate students, Misty Merrifield and Sommer Bland (pictured left) in the WVU Rehabilitation Counseling department interned at JSI for their fall semester. They are expected two graduate next May. Misty's previous intern experience was at the Center for Independent Living. Sommer's intern experience has been with Family Services of Marion and Harrison counties.

Initially Misty's intention was to work in the prison system to help rehabilitate inmates, before their release into society as a way to lessen recidivism. Her work at North Central West Virginia Center for Independent Living opened her eyes to an entire different population of people. She worked as an independent contractor to help people, who experience these barriers to work to be more involved with their community as a whole.

Sommer's experience in this has been more personal. After her grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, she wanted to find ways to help people use resources that would make their lives easier.

They will graduate May 2010, and we're happy to have them as an addition to our team!

John's New Gig at Glotfelty Tire

In mid-October, John started his new job at Glotfelty Tire in Bridgeport. John's job was an outcome of the work of the Active Employer Council (AEC), a group of business owners and community members who meet job seekers, then leverage their business and community relationships to assist these job seekers towards gaining employment.

Immediately following the September AEC meeting, Brad Ford, a member of the Council, contacted Joel Davis, manager at the tire center, about John. At the September meeting, Mr. Ford was introduced to John, who told the Council about how he sometimes helps his dad when working on their car.

John, a senior at Liberty High School, says that, so far, the job is a good fit. "I really like my job--I make good money, and its a good thing that I'm working. I like the other guys who work there and I like helping them out. Joel is a good guy and Johnny (pictured above) is a good person and also pretty funny."

Regarding his job duties at Glotfelty, John says, "I take the 'Wet Wall' off the new tires that come in, unload new tires when they arrive, put old tires into the trailer for the recycling service, help load tires on the conveyor belt for storage, sweep the storage area, and put the nuts back on the tires when they are put on the cars."

Congratulations on your first job John!