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Published Sunday, June 29, 2008 in Local

Photo by Elizabeth Richardson

Members of the Coweta Collaborative — including county agencies and non-profit organizations — met Tuesday to discuss ways to streamline county-wide services and resources.

Collaborative group forms to help local needy residents

By Elizabeth Richardson

The Times-Herald

Over 25 people representing more than 15 different government agencies and non-profit organizations within this county have joined forces to form what they're calling the Coweta Collaborative.

The Coweta Collaborative's most recent meeting at the local Georgia Department of Labor office featured a discussion of ways to network and streamline various services and resources to better serve the community during this economic downturn.

In addition to State Rep. Billy Horne, there were people representing Prevent Child Abuse Coweta, Medicaid, United Way, Coweta Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), the Georgia Department of Labor, the Alliance for Children's Enrichment, Coweta Cancer Support, Hospice, Newnan-Coweta Habitat for Humanity and Vocational Rehabilitation Services -- just to name a few.

Jan Taylor, executive director of ACE, and one of the collaborative's initiators, shared her two goals for the venture. Her first goal is to establish a system in the short term to unify the various groups in such a way as to accomplish the main goal, which is to take the unemployed into that system and, within four years, educate them and help them obtain gainful employment in order for them to earn a living wage and no longer depend on government support. Empowering the public with self-sufficiency is Taylor's main objective.

In the current economy, local agencies and organizations are facing a dilemma between needing more funding to provide better services to the public, or helping fewer clients, according to Peter Ludlow, field services supervisor with the Labor Department.

The primary issue with the economy, according to Ludlow, is perceived to be a lack of jobs and education. Ludlow says, however, that employers are still hiring, but the "established gatekeepers" of the workplace are not hiring the most qualified person for the job because applicants aren't adequately prepared for the interview process.

In fact, statistics show that more than 40 percent of job seekers turn off prospective employers by poor appearance and manners. Approximately 42 percent of job seekers are qualified but have difficulty tapping into the "hidden job market."

More than 80 percent cannot identify or describe their skills and abilities. Approximately 85 percent of the long term unemployed do not spend enough time looking for a job -- instead opting to devote fewer than five hours a week in the job search. Approximately 90 percent cannot answer difficult questions during interviews.

To remedy those statistics, Ludlow is inviting the public to participate in a free job seeker seminar on July 16 at the Coweta County Fairgrounds beginning at 5 p.m. Tutorials will be offered at the seminar, including "The Power of Effective Networking," "Creating the Ideal Resume," "Interview Like a Pro" and "Educational Opportunities." They plan to have human resources professionals on site, so they ask potential applicants to bring a resume and dress professionally.

"Everybody has got to speak with one voice," said Ludlow during the collaborative meeting Tuesday. He urged volunteers and staff members to throw political correctness out the window in order to tell job seekers exactly what they're doing wrong in the quest for employment.

One issue members of the Coweta Collaborative debated was drug screenings. One participant mentioned that some people, while perfectly qualified for a job, can't get one because of a failed drug screening. Questions arose whether members of the collaborative were allowed to share that information with other groups, such as the Department of Family and Children's Services, if children were involved in the situation, or Section 8 Housing, if applicable.

Horne said that he's not aware of any law prohibiting personnel from sharing that information with other groups.

"I think people should be held accountable for their actions," said Ludlow. "These mixed signals are hurting us."

Another member took the defensive on the issue and said she doesn't find substance abuse any worse a problem affecting people than mental health issues. Her suggestion instead was to help the drug addict and refer that person to rehabilitative services, rather than throw that person in jail. Her greater fear is that word would get around and no one eligible for help would ask for it out of fear of imprisonment.

A second issue brought up for the collaborative to discuss involved the elderly and the ill.

According to Taylor, it is taking 42 months on average for someone to begin receiving disability. Until a person begins receiving disability, that person cannot begin receiving Medicaid. Therefore, if the breadwinner of a family is stricken with terminal cancer and can no longer work, there is potentially no income into the household for up to 42 months -- during a time when the costs for expensive treatments are adding up.

According to Taylor, situations such as these not only affect that individual household, but they affect the community as a whole because that family then must exhaust local resources.

Horne didn't have good news for the group. According to the representative, the state is 10 percentage points behind where they were this time last year when it comes to available funding. Horne says the dip in funding is directly proportional to the suffering economy.

A representative of Coweta Cancer Support shared that Georgia is a very high cancer rate state -- especially when it comes to lung cancer. In fact, statistics suggest that one in three women and one in two men will get cancer in their lifetime.

Because of the economy and the donor-fatigued support groups, Ludlow is calling for more "personal responsibility in the communities where you live." If it doesn't happen, people will experience "attrition in life" -- "and that's not the correct way for things to happen in America."

On the bright side, the Department of Labor's Vocational Rehabilitation program is looking for disabled people -- whether physically or mentally -- who want to pursue employment. A spokesperson for the group said that they have government funding available and not enough people to help.

The Coweta Collaborative as a whole wants to remove barriers for the unemployed on multiple issues. One such issue in the community is transportation. There is currently a movement to bring transportation to this county. Coweta County has been looking at bringing the dial-a-ride program here, and it's currently slated to be up and running by this fall if all goes according to schedule, according to Coweta Public Information Officer Patricia Palmer.

Right now a regional transportation committee is also trying to find a solution to this area's transportation woes. Currently, the Department of Labor can provide job seekers $12 per day for taxis, but there's nothing in place that would pick that person up and transport him or her to a job interview. And, with the rising cost of fuel, $12 per day just isn't enough for taxi fare.

Ludlow's best piece of advice for anyone currently in search of a job, is to treat the job search as a job itself. Ludlow says to be diligent, dress professionally and know what employers are looking for in order to become that.

The collaborative plans to create a directory with the names of the organizations represented in the group, along with an explanation of their purpose and a point of contact. That way, if anyone approaches any one agency or group for assistance, the group's representative will be equipped with the knowledge to help that person in other problematic areas of life by means of referrals.

Finally, the Coweta Collaborative expressed an overall desire to implement some way to track their progress to ensure people aren't slipping through the cracks of the system. The group's agenda stated that they want to be "more than just a meeting."

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