One of the primary functions of the JobSight workforce network is helping eastern Kentuckians prepare to enter or re-enter the workforce. Through a partnership with courts in Perry and Knott counties, JobSight is now helping participants in alternative sentencing programs for drug offenses build a career.

“The main reasons for this workshop are to get you back into the workforce, and to help you know how to keep a job once you get one,” Jack Duff told eight Drug Court participants at the outset of the daylong workshop at the JobSight. Duff is manager of the Perry County JobSight, which is located at the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council just south of Hazard at Jeff.

Through group discussions, a video presentation, and one-on-one instruction, participants learned how to execute internet-based job searches, write effective resumes and cover letters, fill out job applications, and perform well in job interviews. Instruction was delivered by JobSight staff and representatives of the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training and the Appalachian Lifelong Learning Center, both partners in the JobSight workforce network.

The Perry County JobSight hosted seven participants in Knott County’s Drug Court as part of the partnership’s pilot effort in June. Perry Circuit Judge Bill Engle, who heads Perry County’s Drug Court, attended the second workshop for a firsthand look at how JobSight can help participants in his program develop the skills they need to successfully join the workforce.

“From what I’ve seen today, I’m very impressed,” Engle said.

Drug Court is a court-supervised treatment alternative designed to address the high relapse rate of illicit drug users and the occurrence of nonviolent drug-related crimes, Engle said. The program attempts to halt the participants’ drug use and criminal activities through a highly structured framework of substance-abuse education, treatment, drug testing, and counseling. Participants who successfully complete the one- to two-year program are subject to having drug-related charges against them dismissed through diversion or conditionally discharged through probation.

Engle said the JobSight’s free services for job seekers fit perfectly within the framework of Drug Court.

Because many Drug Court participants dropped out of the workforce after beginning their criminal activities, the JobSight’s services will help them work toward once again becoming productive, law-abiding citizens, Engle said. Once that happens, the odds decrease that they will fall victim to the problems that initially brought them into his courtroom, he said.

“We’re not just disciplining people with drug problems,” Engle said. “We have to be a total recovery program for these people. If Drug Court is going to become that full rehabilitation program, we need to do it with everything we can—all our resources—working together like this.”

JobSight’s curriculum for job seekers was developed by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP), a federally funded non-profit agency that administers the JobSight network of workforce centers in 23 eastern Kentucky counties. At JobSight “one-stop” workforce centers, job seekers and employers can access over a dozen state and federal employment and training programs and employer services in a single location.

In addition to the Perry County JobSight, EKCEP administers JobSight full service workforce centers in Clay, Bell, and Pike counties, as well as nearly 70 affiliate sites and access points.

“JobSight is pleased to partner with the Perry and Knott county Drug Courts to help participants develop these potentially life-changing skills that can help them remain on a course toward a successful future,” said Jennifer Thacker, EKCEP’s manager of the JobSight network. Thacker and Janie Hackney, EKCEP’s one-stop coordinator, also attended the recent workshop.