The story of the WorkNow Kentucky program is more than just the story of more than 4,750 eastern Kentuckians who got summer jobs this year; it is also the story of more than 1,250 volunteer employers who provided the job opportunities, mentored the workers, and helped improve their local communities.

WorkNow Kentucky placed workers in temporary 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 using economic stimulus money provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In only four months, the program paid over $12.6 million in wages into the economies of 23 mountain counties in eastern Kentucky.

The volunteer employers included organizations like the Odyssey Center in Louisa, which put several WorkNow workers to work on several renovation projects, including getting Odyssey’s residential women’s recovery program facility—called “Karen’s Place”—ready for its opening.

“We could not have had Karen’s Place ready for opening so quickly without their help. They did an excellent job,” said Judy Herron, director of Karen’s Place and the Odyssey Center.

The Odyssey Center also put WorkNow participants to work on its renovation of the historic Garden Theater in Louisa for use as its offices and a fellowship hall.  WorkNow workers also helped with The Odyssey Center’s day-to-day operations throughout the summer.

The Odyssey Center was founded by former assistant county attorney Tim Robinson with the help of members of Community Fellowship Church and other community leaders to combat a drug problem that seemed to be consuming Lawrence County.

Rick May, pastor of Community Fellowship Church, said the situation felt “so hopeless,” but the church members and Odyssey founders took inspiration from the example of Jesus and refused to turn their backs on the suffering.  Odyssey is their attempt to turn the tide.

Judy said Odyssey feels its faith-based approach to drug treatment is the best way for local drug addicts to get results.

“Faith-based programs are much more successful than secular programs,” Judy said, adding that when addicts come to the Odyssey Center they get spiritual counseling in addition to a referral to a drug treatment facility.

As the Odyssey Center grew, it began looking for better ways to help female addicts, who often have special difficulty getting treatment because they have children that they need to stay close to.

Odyssey Center leased a house that would allow it to provide residential treatment for up to 16 women and named it after Karen Byrd, a Lawrence County woman who was killed in a 2004 drug deal gone wrong. Odyssey worked on the project with Karen’s parents, Raymond and Bernadine Byrd, who became anti-drug activists after her death.

Before Karen’s Place could open, however, it needed a lot of work. In the course of the summer, WorkNow participants actually helped renovate two Karen’s Places; after the project had begun, Odyssey moved the facility to a larger 20-bed facility at another location—and WorkNow workers helped prepare that location for clients.

The Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) administered the WorkNow Kentucky program in 23 eastern Kentucky counties, delivering services through contractor agencies. In Louisa, services were delivered by the Northeast Kentucky Community Action Agency (NKCAA).

Judy said the staff of NKCAA was a great help in meeting the Odyssey Center’s needs and finding good workers to place there. She said most of the workers were “excellent,” adding that some of them were so supportive of Odyssey’s anti-drug efforts that they chose to continue to work with the center as volunteers after their paid WorkNow jobs ended.

The Odyssey Center plans to hire two of the WorkNow Kentucky workers full-time for Karen’s Place when it opens.

James Kise, who WorkNow placed at the Odyssey Center to help with renovations, said he was not only glad that NKCAP had helped him find summer work so soon after being laid off, he was also glad he was able to work for an organization that is tackling such an important challenge.

“Odyssey is a good group to work for,” James said.

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. The program was designed and delivered through a cooperative effort of Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development, and local workforce development agencies like EKCEP.

For more information about EKCEP’s training and job placement initiatives in your area, call 606-638-4949 or visit www.ekcep.org. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ekcep.