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Business and economy news and issues in the Ozarks.

Convenience of New Job Center Encouraging North Siders to Explore Services, Elevate Circumstances

Scott Harvey
/
KSMU
Richard Wakefield (left) looks through job vacancies with Workforce Development Specialist Tammy Casey.

Tammy Casey is walking a client through the various services offered at the Springfield Career Center. As a workforce development specialist, she introduces newcomers to the center’s offerings and helps identify their job placement needs.

“This just shows, Richard, kind of the top industries here in this area. Labor market information, so it’s letting you know who’s hiring, who has the most job orders, that type of thing,” says Casey.

Up until a few weeks ago, Casey’s duties were carried out from the center’s southeast location along Sunshine Street.  Now, she and six other staff members occupy a 1,900 square foot space inside Cox Medical Tower. Missouri Job Center North Springfield solves a problem of access to job placement resources for Zone 1 citizens, whose district holds the city’s highest unemployment rate at 12 percent. 

“They got plenty of room to service a lot of people," says Richard Wakefield, a Zone 1 resident who’s looking for work.

The 68-year-old retiree receives a monthly Social Security check and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the government. The assistance pays for rent and food. But Wakefield says he’d like to take more ownership of his earnings.

“I’m an independent person, really."

Job Center
Credit Scott Harvey / KSMU
/
KSMU
Prospective employees utilizing resources inside the north side job center's workshop room.

Before it opened on Nov. 21, north Springfield job seekers could only receive in-person assistance from the career center at its southeast side location. Not as big of a deal for Wakefield, who owns a truck. But for those without their own vehicle, which isn’t uncommon in some areas of Zone 1, it was much more difficult.

At the center's formal opening ceremony in mid-December, Springfield Workforce Development Director Mary Ann Rojas said, “Individuals that required public transportation to get to our facility on Sunshine Avenue had to take up to two hours to get there using public transportation.”

Many visitors to the new center are from this part of town, and note the convenience of its location as a reason they drop by. Three weeks after it opened, some 150 people had passed through.

Staff tells me that besides limited access to transportation, digital skills are among those that visitors lack. As I observe a session between Casey and Wakefield, he acknowledges a need to become more familiar with computers.

“I have heck with the keyboard. That’s what I was trying to find those [keys]. Where’s A, B, C?” Wakefield chuckles.

With workshops starting in January on the north side, Wakefield will have more opportunities to better prepare himself for a job. Others have already made multiple trips to the center.

“I would just walk by and all of a sudden there’s this new career center, says Ralph Guzman, who had been getting assistance at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Southwest Missouri office, four floors up from the new job center inside Cox Medical Tower.

Ralph Guzman
Credit Scott Harvey / KSMU
/
KSMU
Ralph Guzman was recently hired at a Springfield business after getting help at the north side job center.

He moved to Springfield about a month ago from Indiana. While his grandfather lives nearby, there was no job waiting for Guzman upon arrival. During his initial days here he received lodging and meals through the nonprofit Victory Mission. His repeated trips to the job center would turn things around.

“The secretary, she’s the one that helped me out with the computers; get me online," says Guzman. "I’ve been coming in almost every day seeing if any applications, so they gave me an application and I just got lucky with this one.”

On the day I spoke with him, Guzman had just completed orientation for his new job. He’s now a laborer with Prestressed Casting Co. in Springfield, which produces structural and architectural concrete products. The union job offers him a healthy hourly wage, 40 hours a week plus 401 K.

“I thank God from above for helping me out with everything I’ve got now," he said.

Guzman says he appreciates the personal, one-on-one informational sessions staff offered him at the north side career center.

Recently, his family helped him find an apartment on Springfield’s south side, which is close enough to ride his bike to work. While no longer a Zone 1 resident, he encourages those living in the region to come by the center, put in the work and be patient with the process.

“I have a lot of people asking me where this is at, where this is at and I show ‘em. But it’s up to them if they wanna go forward with it.”

Back inside Tammy Casey’s office, she’s scanning her computer screen of potential job opportunities for Richard Wakefield. She comes across an opening for a hotel breakfast cook. Wakefield, a former chef, perks up.

“$9.23 [per hour]?” he asks Casey. “That ain’t bad at all.”

After his session, Wakefield tells me he’s feeling good about his job prospects. A past employee at the nonprofit Kitchen Inc., he’s used to helping others. This time, he was the one getting the help.

“To me it’s like a slight spiritual uplift. Because other people care about ya.”

Now, he’s hoping his Zone 1 neighbors can also benefit.

“I got a trailer park behind me there over half of them is outa work. ‘Where can I find work [they ask].’ I said man, now I know where to take ‘em,” says Wakefield. 

Neighbors helping neighbors seems a vital component to the success of the Zone Blitz. But you don’t have to be a north side neighbor to lend a hand. Projects within the Jobs and Economic Development focus area call for assistance with funding and promoting ways to enhance the lives of Zone 1 citizens.

Follow Scott Harvey on Twitter: @scottksmu

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