New funding is coming to a program that helps people with child support debts receive resources and find a good job.
The Area Resources for Community and Human Services awarded $95,517 to the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment for its yearlong Circuit Court program.
The goal is to help train participants to land stable jobs and reach child support compliance, SLATE Executive Director Connie Johnson said.
“We're trying to make sure that people are not deterred from obtaining meaningful employment and going into career paths based upon the fear that their wages will be garnished or taken away because they have this debt,” Johnson said.
Johnson said SLATE aims to enroll 70 people with employment barriers such as medical conditions, lack of high school diplomas or a GED, prior felony convictions, homelessness and other hurdles that could prevent them from finding jobs.
SLATE also wants to enroll an additional 49 job-ready candidates and place participants in full- or part-time jobs that pay an average of $14 per hour. The placements will allow participants to make regular child support payments.
Candidates are referred through the Judicial Child Support Court. Participants are either unemployed or underemployed and dealing with child support debt.
“Our staff works very closely with SLATE to co-identify how to move through challenges, how to identify the appropriate participants for the program, and how to remove barriers to participation,” ARCHS President and CEO Les Johnson said. “And also, in some cases, helping to identify employment opportunities when appropriate and available.”
The program has also connected other participants with entry- and mid-level positions, SLATE Discretionary Grants Program Coordinator Lisa Wilson said.
“We try to tailor that as much as we can because if you're not in a position that you are enjoying or satisfied with, then again, you're going to quit,” Wilson said.
The program has run for nine years, but Connie Johnson said the new funding arrives when some companies, facing a weakened economy, have slowed hiring. The May tornado also disrupted the workforce.
“Some of our clients may have worked for a smaller business, and if the smaller business was destroyed from the tornado, there goes their job,” Connie Johnson said. “We would be remiss if we did not mention the impact that the tornado has had on workforce, job placement and employment in this region.”
