Nick Sturgill is one of more than 4,750 people across eastern Kentucky who spent their summers earning money, learning new skills, and contributing to their communities through jobs funded by the WorkNow Kentucky program. For Nick and many others, the experience gave them more than just a summer job; it also helped them decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

After working at the Appalachian Early Child Development Center in Whitesburg through WorkNow, Nick decided to become an early childhood education teacher.

“I always knew I wanted to do something with education but I didn’t know what grades, until I worked here this summer,” Nick said.

His WorkNow experience working directly with pre-school teacher Terri Ratliff helped focus his ambitions and he recently started studying toward his goal at Southeast Community and Technical College’s campus in Whitestburg.

At the center, Nick smiles as he reads a story to one of the pre-school children and asks what his favorite dinosaurs are.

“I like it here. I like working with the kids,” Nick said. He added that it is gratifying to work with them at such a young age because he feels like he can be a positive influence on their lives.

WorkNow placed workers in jobs with a wide range of volunteer employers including private businesses, state and local government agencies, and non-profit organizations — and paid 100 percent of the workers’ wages.

Funds for the WorkNow Kentucky program were provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund, and a cooperative effort of Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development. In eastern Kentucky, the program was administered by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc., (EKCEP), with services provided through local community action agencies.

In the 23 mountain counties served by EKCEP, WorkNow Kentucky put over 4,750 eastern Kentuckians to work in positions with over 1,250 employers. In four months, the program paid over $9.5 million in wages locally to help stimulate the eastern Kentucky economy.

Nick has been a very helpful presence at the center this summer, Terri said.

She said was been pleased to see how well Nick did and how much he learned about things like preparing lesson plans and dealing with unexpected situations that arise when working with kids.

“He’s learned a lot,” Terri said.

Terri said the center has always been pleased to accept workers from WorkNow and other youth employment programs administered by EKCEP and provided locally by the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council.

“They’re open-minded and ready to learn,” she said.

Nick said the staff at the Letcher County office of L.K.L.P. in Whitesburg made it easy for him to sign up for WorkNow and had him placed quickly. He said he would recommend WorkNow or the other employment programs offered by L.K.L.P.

“They helped me a lot,” Nick said.

For more information about WorkNow or other EKCEP training and job programs for youth and adults in your area, call 633-4458 or visit www.ekcep.org or www.facebook.com/ekcep.