Work Ready Ada: Transforming Lives Through Employment Readiness

By: Sunnie Dawn Baker

Cassie Burrows knows what it’s like to need a new purpose and a new path. Her mother had been diagnosed with cancer and Burrows used her family medical leave to stay home and take care of her. Unfortunately, after she exhausted her leave, the company laid off Burrows, and she found herself on unemployment. Even though she had ten years in the Army, a college degree, and air traffic control experience, Burrows still couldn’t find a job. Thankfully, though, somebody at her local workforce office saw her potential and helped her find a job as a case manager in workforce development. After working as a case manager, supervisor, and deputy director, Burrows now has the remarkable chance to help even more people as Program Director of Work Ready Ada, an employment readiness program hosted in partnership with Pontotoc Technology Center (PTC).

PTC was awarded the $7.5 million program this year. Oklahoma Human Services funds the program and they will distribute the money over a five-year period. PTC will host the program, and they are currently working on construction of an expanded co-working space that will help the participants of the Work Ready program. While Burrows leads the program, she is supported by Program Manager Callie Thronebury, Job Coach Kim Paxson, with administrative support from Amy Watkins. While Work Ready Oklahoma has been operating successfully in the Oklahoma City area for eight years, two years ago these efforts expanded to rural parts of the state, opening centers in McIntosh, Muskogee, and Pittsburg counties. Between January and October of 2022, those programs places 164 individuals in jobs with 60% of those being remote work, generating an estimated $6 million in annual wages. Now, thanks to Pontotoc Technology Center, these opportunities will now be open to our area as well.

The first Work Ready Workshop will begin on September 16th at PTC from 9:00 AM-3:30 PM and last for two weeks. While the workshop doesn’t cost any money, participants are making the investment of their own time, but it is an investment in their futures as well. In the beginning, Burrows and her team will do strength assessments with the participants, as well as collecting their employment history. Burrows and her team will send their employment history to a professional resume writer who will create a document that highlights the strengths of the potential applicants while also minimizing the usual pitfalls, such as gaps in the work record. The workshop begins on a Monday but by Friday of the first week, the attendees will be applying for quality jobs that pay at least $15 an hour plus benefits.

This workshop opportunity is unique in that part of it is in person, yet much of the curriculum is presented live, but remotely; the participants will engage in a live class hosted virtually out of Oklahoma City. The program will stream to 17 different locations around the state, with people at all locations participating simultaneously. This component is crucial to the success of the program, using a curriculum that educators have developed and backed with scientific evidence. The facilitators focus on finding your own personal skills and values and making sure that those match up with the companies and positions that you might be pursuing, in addition to the importance of effective communication and conflict resolution. Another component, though, is hope. It is imperative that these participants build hope in themselves and what their possible futures may look like. For many of these individuals, this opportunity had the potential to change their lives and the lives of their families. he program defines the second week as WIN Time, or “What I Need to Work On.” This is where the instruction becomes more personal, focusing on individual needs and could look like computer skills or customer service training or a whole host of other topics, essentially whatever the participants need most at the time. After the two week workshop, though, Burrows and her team continue to provide resources and coaching for as long as they are needed.

One of the major focal points of the workshop is remote work because these are good jobs that can be done from home while providing a positive impact on the lives of individuals as well as the local economy. While many people want to do remote work, it can also be tricky to start. Each company has different types of assessments, the interview process is distinct from in-person interviews, and the requirements for a home office work space can be challenging. However, this program can help people prepare for this type of work and be successful at it. Burrows and her team spend time applying for the remote work jobs themselves so they can see the types of assessments that people would need to prepare for. They work with their prospective applicants on perfecting a virtual interview. And they also provide co-working spaces for people to do their remote work while setting up their home offices. To that end, in advance of the workshop, on September 11th from 12:00-1:00, Burrows will be hosting a Remote Job Fair at Goodway Coffee. She will inform people about the Work Ready Ada program, the opportunities that remote work offers, and provide some leads for remote jobs.

While the first of these workshops will begin September 16th, they will be hosting one workshop per month from September through February, followed by ten per year for the duration of the grant. In addition to the workshops, they will also be organizing two large-scale job fairs. The one in the Fall, Worklahoma on November 5th, will provide access to head shots and hair cuts in addition to the usual booths one would find at a job fair. For more information about these programs, or to register for the workshop, contact Cassie Burrows at cburrows@pontotoctech.edu. For many people in our community, this could be the time to find a career and change their lives.