100th person finds employment through Joseph Project
Jobs program hopes to help 400 next year
During his recent reelection campaign, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson focused on his work with the Joseph Project, which links innercity residents from Milwaukee to jobs in Sheboygan County.
To Johnson, this wasn’t just a jobs program, but a way to turn around lives.
Now that the race is over, Johnson and his staff, along with Pastor Jerome Smith of Greater Praise Church of God in Christ, are redoubling their efforts to expand the faith-based initiative.
On Tuesday, the 13month-old Joseph Project hit a milestone when a 32year-old woman named Kenyetta Williams became the 100th person to find employment through the program.
“I’m very excited and kind of nervous,” Williams said before boarding a van at Greater Praise Church for the hourlong drive to her new job working for a large food manufacturer in Sheboygan County.
The Joseph Project, named after a book by black conservative Robert L. Woodson Sr., provides classes to help applicants prepare to land jobs and keep them.
From Smith’s innercity church in Milwaukee, the program has expanded to another Milwaukee church and one in Madison. And employers, especially manufacturers eager for workers, have signed up, not just in Sheboygan County, but elsewhere.
The Joseph Project received a big boost during the campaign when it was featured in a Johnson ad, and profiled by political reporters.
“The ad was mutually beneficial,” Smith said.
Voters took notice. And so did potential employers and donors. The church was able to acquire a new, 15-person passenger van after receiving a gift from an anonymous donor.
Smith said getting jobs for 100 people sends a powerful message. The program’s retention rate is around 70%, he said.
Over the next year, Smith is aiming higher, seeking to get 400 people employed through the program.
In recent weeks, another key link was established when a Joseph Project graduate landed a job at John Deere Horicon Works. More may follow since the facility has 100 job openings, said Brian Pulford, the firm’s labor relations manager.
“I like the emphasis they’re putting on helping candidates to prepare for a job,” Pulford said. “We’re looking for good people and we’ll look wherever the good people are.”