Fresh off his second layoff and third major job change in as many years, Scott Bailey knew it was time for a change.

“I didn’t want to spend my life working at several different dead-end jobs, and I was tired of switching jobs,” said Scott, 37, a lifelong Hazard resident. “I knew that something just had to change.”

Bringing about that change meant Scott would finally have to work on earning his GED, a goal that had eluded him since he dropped out of high school in 1989. Only five months after the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) helped Scott reach that goal, he shared his struggles and successes with an audience from across the nation at the 2006 National Conference on Family Literacy on March 20 in Louisville.

As a keynote speaker at the conference, Scott told approximately 1,800 attendees how he transcended negative childhood academic experiences and difficult layoffs as an adult to earn his GED and truly set his sights on college for the first time. Scott shared the podium with country music star Naomi Judd, a staunch adult education advocate, and with Wally Amos, a renowned author, family literacy advocate, and entrepreneur.

“I just can’t soak it all in,” Scott said with a laugh. “I’m still trying to soak in getting my GED in the first place!”

Scott prepared for his appearance by delivering his speech to Hazard’s Rotary Club, and also to members of several agencies who assisted him at the Perry County JobSight workforce center located in the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council at Jeff.

Scott was nominated for the honor by Gayle Box, lead instructor at Hazard’s Appalachian Lifelong Learning Center, and Charlene Justice, the Center's family literacy specialist. The Center is an access point for services provided by the JobSight workforce network. The JobSight network is administered by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP).

The Center provided Scott with free intensive classroom tutoring and the training he needed to prepare for the GED exam. The WIA Dislocated Worker Program provided Scott supportive service funding that covered his transportation expenses and allowed him to travel daily to his GED classes. WIA also reimbursed Scott for the cost of the exam.

Box credited the WIA’s support with keeping Scott on the right track. After roughly five months of work at the Center, Scott passed the GED exam in October 2005 on his first attempt.

“If not for that support, I don’t know if we would have been able to keep him at all,” Box said. “Scott felt a lot of pressure to get his GED before his Unemployment Insurance ran out, and he did.”

Scott agreed.

“Without (WIA support) I knew I would have had to go back to work to afford the drive to class,” he said, “and with the type of jobs and hours I have to work, coming back and getting a GED might have been put on the back burner.”

Scott’s first contact with WIA programs came in June 2005, after he was laid off from his truck-driving job at a Hazard dairy. It was his second layoff. The first came in 1992 when a downturn in the coal industry cost him his job at a strip mine. Between the two layoffs, Scott had to leave a cross-country trucking job due to family concerns.

“I thought to myself, ‘Here I go again,’” he said. “There I was, out of work and having to sign up on Unemployment Insurance again.”

But this time was different, he said. After enrolling in the WIA Dislocated Worker Program, Scott was asked to participate in the Career Basics workshop offered at the Perry County JobSight. Through Career Basics, Scott prepared his first-ever resume and posted it on the internet where employers could view it. He also learned how to perform well in job interviews.

The Perry County JobSight is part of the JobSight network of workforce centers operated in 23 eastern Kentucky counties by EKCEP. 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.

After earning his GED, Scott secured a new job as a truck driver for Home Lumber Company’s concrete business in Hazard. He said he is grateful for a good job, but he is not content to stop there.

“Now that I have my GED, I know I can do more,” Scott said. “I’d like to further my education by taking college classes, and I know that I can have a career.”

When he enrolls in college, Scott said he would like to work on becoming a computer-assisted designer who fabricates metal tools and other parts for the automotive industry.

Now that he has tasted success, Scott said he is confident he will be able to achieve that career goal or whatever else he puts his mind to. When looking back at where he has been, he said he is grateful the WIA and JobSight opened the door to a promising future that is much brighter than he ever imagined.

“If it weren’t for you all, I would have never met Gayle, and I would have never got my GED because at that point in my life I didn’t think I could,” Scott told numerous people at the JobSight, including his WIA Career Adviser Tina Farler, and representatives of other JobSight partner agencies.

“Everyone stood by me, and you all helped make a difference in my life,” he said.

Now, with the opportunity to publicly share his story, Scott hopes others who think they cannot restart and complete a stalled education will see the benefit in the WIA, as well as adult and family literacy programs.

“I hope somebody can hear my story and say, ‘If he can do it, so can I,’” Scott said. “To see someone else hear what I’ve done and go on and better himself would be my biggest honor of all.”