ombruff1111

[ombruff1111]

Macropost 4

My practicum experience with Community of Hope and Jobs For Life has provided me with the opportunity to gain meaningful experience and exposure to multiple public competencies along the way. After weeks of editing and revising Jobs For Life (JFL) slide decks to be impactful and effective for our target population, I understand the importance of clear communication, organized planning, and appropriate messaging. My facilitator and I generated multiple iterations of modules 5, 6, 7, 10, and 11 in order to ensure the content was displayed in a way that would translate to the virtual format, and convey the correct lesson meaning. I was continually impressed with how the Jobs For Life curriculum is tailored to include all potential student backgrounds, including those with intermittent work histories and criminal records. Jobs For Life recognizes that individual stories are diverse, and while everyone’s specific needs may be different, JFL can provide general work training that will set them on the path to either receive more specific career training, or to leave the class and seek gainful employment. The importance of job literacy is made clear through this curriculum, and it is through these modules that JFL advocates for the individual, and their ability and right to achieve meaningful employment regardless of their background. Employment is determined by many factors, including how accurate and suitable a submitted resume is, how an individual presents themselves at an interview, and how adept they are at answering sometimes tricky behavioral questions. By addressing each of these stumbling blocks to employment and more, JFL addresses one of the key social determinants of health: economic stability. When students are able to find employment that offers better pay and upward mobility, the financial security this provides has a ripple effect into other areas of their life, most significantly their physical and mental health. With unemployment rates, especially as a result of the coronavirus, at elevated levels, the need for job literacy is more pressing than ever.  

As a final project for Community of Hope, our practicum group planned to host a virtual job fair to complement our work with the online curriculum creation. We connected with local businesses, asking for their participation in our virtual event, which we planned to host on the Zoom platform. We created detailed instructions for both participating businesses and registered attendees, as well as an online form for potential attendees to complete while registering. We used this form to gather data for how effective our online marketing was for the event, and to guide future efforts when other virtual fairs are hosted. Unfortunately, our registration was too low to move forward with the event, though the connections we made with businesses will still be of benefit for Community of Hope in the future. Marketing should be expanded when the next virtual fair is held, and participating businesses should use their networks to promote the event as well. The virtual job fair was a growth point for our practicum group, as we learned which methods worked for garnering business participation, and where more effort should be placed next time in terms of marketing and promotion. However, even during this challenge, our practicum group worked well together responding to the changing expectations, shifting from planning an event to notifying participating businesses of the cancellation. Throughout the entire process, our group maintained open communication and effectively delegated tasks to ensure equal responsibilities and efficient workflow. One of the greatest strengths of our group was our ability to communicate within a virtual context, and quickly respond to changing work demands.

Throughout the semester I have been reminded of the importance of our work, and the impact it can have on individuals and communities. Public health has always inspired me by its focus on preventative strategies, and Jobs For Life has taken that same approach. By providing skills and strategies to seek meaningful employment, JFL helps individuals avoid the negative impacts of low income and unemployment. Being unemployed is often viewed by society as a result of laziness, or a fault of the individual, when in fact securing a stable job does not come without hurdles. Having an incomplete work history, or a criminal record, can make it almost impossible to find employment, even for those seeking. Rural areas have less opportunities available, and in many cases what openings there are do not offer adequate pay or needed benefits. There are also less vocational and job training opportunities in rural areas, making it difficult for individuals with low job literacy to make the necessary changes to their behaviors or resume that would be essential to receive more meaningful work. Through the creation of a virtual JFL curriculum, more individuals will have the opportunity to receive the skills and strategies to overcome unemployment and underemployment. Future needs to address will be organizing community host organizations to market and broadcast this remote curriculum in other areas that do not currently offer JFL curriculum, especially in rural areas. Partnerships with community churches would be one potential avenue, as our work with Jobs For Life through a faith-based organization was key to facilitating community connections. Other options could be local health departments or community centers, if available. Regardless, the need to involve the community in rural areas, including local businesses, will be critical to the successful implementation of Job’s For Life’s mission and a necessary step to reaching the most individuals possible.

[ombruff1111]

After advertising on multiple platforms and even through our business connections that had agreed to participate in this event, we unfortunately had to cancel our scheduled virtual job fair tomorrow due to low registration. We wanted to honor the time of the participating businesses, and have decided instead to connect each of them more personally with those who did register by passing along submitted resumes. As we move forward, we will discuss the strengths and challenges of this event in hopes to create guidelines for a more successful virtual career fair in the future. This guide can be used by Community of Hope to host future job fairs that complement the JFL curriculum.  

[ombruff1111]

The first day of filming was a success! After weeks of developing and finalizing slide decks, we began recording lessons led by their respective facilitators this past Monday. There will be an additional day of filming in November, but Monday was productive and we have completed one third of the lessons, as well as introductory videos for each of the instructors. We are still planning a virtual job fair, scheduled for the middle of November, which we hope will complement the digital JFL class.

[ombruff1111]

Macropost3

This past week our practicum group saw the culmination of our efforts during the filming of the Jobs For Life (JFL) curriculum. Through grant funding, the Community of Hope hired a professional videographer to record each module as it was taught by an instructor. The end product will be a digital class format that can be distributed nationwide. As the instructors presented, they used the slides that we as students helped to develop to guide their narration, and it was satisfying to see the fruits of our labor displayed alongside these skillful teachers. While the bulk of the filming focused on the lessons, there was also scheduled time to film introductions not only of the facilitators but also of our practicum group. Amy White, the director of Community of Hope, thought it appropriate to include a brief introduction from each of the students, since we had helped finalize the curriculum being presented. It was a perfect opportunity to share on film the valuable lessons we had learned through working with Jobs For Life, particularly the value of planning and preparation. It was also a chance to reflect on the skills we had learned and applied over the course of our work, including program planning and implementation as we finalized curriculum and worked through the challenges of virtual class delivery, as well as the importance of communicating the module lessons in easily accessible ways for any student educational level. 

During breaks in filming, we had the opportunity to meet each of the instructors face-to-face, including both our respective, assigned instructor as well as the other leaders. It was inspiring to hear the stories of how these facilitators found their way to Jobs For Life, and the valuable skills and perspectives they brought to the table. Margaret, one of the three instructors, shared her story of how she was led to teach course content for JFL. She described overcoming a traumatic life event and how she was able to draw on this history to teach students how to be resilient and trust in God. She talked about the life-changing impact of Jobs For Life messaging not only for students enrolled in the class, but also for the volunteers who help lead the modules. She shared how students came from all backgrounds, overcoming their own personal struggles. Incarceration. Teen motherhood. Addiction. My partner instructor, Bill, discussed how his involvement in his church led him to Jobs For Life, citing how serendipitous it was that his church decided to host this program given his consulting history. John had a similar story of becoming involved in JFL through his church, and brings an eclectic work history to the program, highlighting the importance of community relationships and outside connections. While listening to each of these presenters share their stories, I was reminded of the powerful role storytelling plays in public health. Not only do these individuals bring invaluable experiences and perspectives to their Jobs For Life lessons, but by sharing their stories they make themselves and their messaging relatable to others. We know that rural residents tend to form and rely on personal relationships with healthcare providers as they seek medical advice, and I believe this to be no less true when seeking advice from mentors within a close-knit community setting such as Jobs For Life. When facilitators can share meaningful, personal stories, they are able to build trusting relationships that inspire change and lead to personal responsibility. 

The importance of Jobs For Life cannot be overstated. Through the creation of a digital course, JFL’s mission to provide job-seeking skills and resources to the unemployed and underemployed is expanded to reach individuals who may need it the most. This is particularly true for rural residents, who often experience higher rates of poverty and low-income. These individuals face numerous barriers to employment, including lack of local area employment training programs, transportation, limited work prospects in rural areas, and low educational attainment. Jobs For Life emphasizes personal growth and learning throughout its 16 modules, creating a two-fold impact not only on individuals but also communities by addressing unemployment and education. According to Klugman & Dalinis (2013, pg. 75), low educational attainment results in economic stagnation of communities, which in turn leads to low-income jobs or employment with few opportunities to advance up the latter. Jobs For Life is an upstream approach to many of the issues facing public health. When rural areas are already limited by lack of healthcare access to mental health services, addiction treatments, and other critical services, programs addressing social determinants of health can have a positive ripple effect into the local population. By addressing the individual need to find meaningful employment, this program addresses a community exigency of economic sustainability. When education and income are so closely tied to health status, it is clear the public health role programs such as Jobs For Life play.

[ombruff1111]

Community of Hope’s Virtual Job Fair is just a few weeks away, and our team has been working to develop instructions for both businesses and for those interested in attending. Using a master list of local businesses, we managed to secure 10 participants for November 9th. The event is being advertised in several locations, including CU Hired and Eventbrite, and is open to anyone. We have designed the fair to allow for participants to learn specifics about each company during individual breakout sessions, and hope this time will be used for meaningful networking.

[ombruff1111]

macropost 2

October has seen an increase in responsibilities for both myself and for my team members. The Community of Hope has officially scheduled a filming date for the Jobs For Life (JFL) modules at the end of the month, with a few additional dates planned for early November if necessary. In addition to this coordination with the filming team, facilitators were identified and confirmed for each of the 16 lesson modules of the curriculum. The facilitators, Margaret, John, and Bill, have led JFL classes in the past, but will be new to the virtual format. In order to effectively translate the modules online, each of the facilitators has requested a single assistant to edit their chosen modules, rather than coordinating with multiple people for each module, as we had originally intended when we divided the lessons up equally between our four practicum members. After this restructuring, Wale was partnered with Margaret, Auriel with John, and myself with Bill. Anna will be assisting Amy White in organizing our business and community resource panels. JFL, while an established program, is venturing into new territory with the creation of an online class, and as with any new program development the ability to adapt to the needs and demands of those involved is critical for success. Open and frequent communication between facilitators and our practicum members, as well as between ourselves, has also been key not only to organizing the multiple aspects of this project, but also to ensure deadlines are met and the proper contacts are made.

Over the past two weeks of our partnership, Bill Barr and I have been collaborating on edits to the slide decks for lessons 5, 6, 7, 10, and 11. Specifically, I have been adjusting the format, adding visual content, creating and incorporating additional material, and reordering slides to ensure smooth transitioning during the presentation of the lesson. Bill has also been providing additional content to incorporate into the JFL curriculum. With a background in management and consulting, Bill is a valuable asset to this program. Prior to retirement, Bill worked at a consulting firm that specialized in employment transition. When companies restructured and eliminated positions, Mr. Barr’s team was responsible for helping terminated employees relocate and find meaningful employment. The alignment with JFL’s mission to help unemployed and underemployed individuals gain the necessary job skills needed to seek and acquire a job is clear. With this specific skill set, Bill has been able to provide targeted, specific material for the topics that JFL covers. For instance, Mr. Barr has created handouts for SMART goals, vocational planning, understanding the hiring decision process, networking, resume building, and how to craft an individual message, such as an elevator pitch. We have specifically been working together to incorporate these materials in a way that is functional both in physical and virtual contexts. Every 3-5 days we have scheduled mock filming practice sessions, where Mr. Barr will present the lesson as he would for the online class while I watch and take notes. After each session, we discuss the comments I noted and ways to alter the slides to allow for more clear presentation. This includes both addition and elimination of slides and images, as well as presentation notes such as how to transition to and from activities in a virtual setting. This has been a meaningful learning experience for both myself and for Bill, as neither of us has created online materials for a class before. As such, these mock practice sessions have been very fruitful, and place us on track to have finalized slide decks by the end of the month.

One completed, JFL will have not only its in-person class program, but also be able to offer a virtual option for those interested. While the stimulus for this project was the coronavirus pandemic, the effects will reach far beyond this temporary public health crisis and has the potential to reach many more individuals than physical JFL classes. In rural areas in particular, the potential for impact is great. Limited by travel distances and inadequate transportation, rural residents often miss out on opportunities located in more urban environments, such as JFL. This is particularly unfortunate, since rural areas have higher rates of poverty and lower incomes than urban environments. As mentioned previously, JFL’s mission is to help unemployed and underemployed individuals gain the strategies and skills necessary to find meaningful employment. Through an online offering, rural residents could benefit from these work development resources without having to travel to classes. By alleviating the strain of economic instability through employment, health outcomes would also improve in rural areas as individuals have a greater ability to seek and afford care. JFL also encourages continued educational and job skills training, which addresses an additional social determinant of health: educational attainment. While the online JFL modules address many public health needs for rural residents, there are still barriers to employment, not the least of which is the limited work prospects in rural areas, particularly for positions with opportunities for upward mobility. Internet access and connectivity is also a challenge, and for some will prevent access to JFL just as much as physical distance from program sites would. Community of Hope has grant funding to offer laptops to students, and the provision of internet hotspots deserves further attention. Program development is never truly complete, and deserves constant assessment for effectiveness and for the identification of challenges. We are in the early stages of development for JFL’s virtual class, but I have no doubt that the organization will have future iterations that make the content even more accessible to communities.

[ombruff1111]

Nearing our October 19th deadline for slide deck completion, this past week has been focused on finalizing slide decks 7, 10, and 11. Each module has undergone the same process of initial editing, including formatting and inclusion of additional material, followed by a mock filming practice session where problem areas are identified and additional edits are made to the slide deck, such as creation of new content, reordering of slides, and format restructuring. In addition to this, our team has been moving forward planning the virtual job fair in November, having decided on a platform and received confirmation of participation from several businesses.

[ombruff1111]

After weeks of preparing content and reviewing JFL modules, this week began the process of finalizing the slide decks through mock filming practice. My specific focus has been on slide decks 5, 6, 7, 10, and 11, though this past week the main priorities have been slide decks 5 and 6. I have reformatted both decks to be consistent and visually appealing, adding content and preparing material for additional videos to later be linked to the main JFL content.

[ombruff1111]

Researched platforms for hosting an online job fair, generating a list of to-do items including connecting with local area businesses, structuring the job fair layout and logistics, and preparing marketing materials. After speaking with facilitators, module assignments have been redone to better meet teacher needs, and the next 3 weeks will be spent working with each facilitator one-on-one in preparation of filming day.

[ombruff1111]

Facilitators have been confirmed for each of the modules, taking us one step closer to our filming goal at the end of October. During our weekly meeting, we discussed plans for hosting a virtual job fair, along with needed next steps to move our execution date from November to October. By next meeting, we will have a guide for leading an online job fair, and, in partnership with the facilitators, begin the process of finalizing slide decks.

[ombruff1111]

Macropost1

Over the course of the past month, I have been working alongside my team members with Amy White, one of the directors at Community of Hope in Garner, NC. We have partnered with her to assist with the implementation of a virtual, Jobs for Life (JFL) program which will be distributed to other program sites once filming is completed in late October. While there will be other aspects to our overall practicum project, the main focus of the past few weeks has been to refine the curriculum for each of the 16 modules in the JFL toolkit.

Jobs for Life fills a critical community need by offering free, work development resources organized in a class format to help those who are unemployed or underemployed. According to the NC Department of Commerce, Wake County had an unemployment rate of 6.6% as of June 2020, slightly less than the state unemployment rate of 7.6% in the same month. These rates are higher than they have been in years past due to COVID-19, and highlight the particular importance of this program during the pandemic. Prior to this, all JFL programs have been held in person at the First Baptist Church of Garner. Given the safety concerns of the pandemic, in-person classes will have to be foregone. However, the need and the demand are still present, which led Ms. White to apply for, and subsequently receive, grant funding for the translation of this curriculum into a virtual format. Funding was also received to purchase loaner laptops for students without access to private computers. Supporting community members in their desire to find employment, or obtain more sufficient employment, not only achieves the obvious outcome of increasing their financial security, but it also affects their health status since low income is known to be a precursor to poor health. Economic stability is a social determinant of health, impacting an individual’s ability to seek care, whether by obtaining insurance or taking time to visit a healthcare professional. More funds can translate into better health habits, such as more nutritious meals, or access to better living arrangements in terms of stable housing. Stress can be reduced if life is no longer lived paycheck to paycheck. In these ways, Jobs for Life is more than a job training toolkit, it is a health intervention.

Not only is the JFL curriculum virtual, but much of the practicum has also been remote. This has been a learning curve for me, as I am used to projects, particularly group assignments, being hands-on and in-person. The changes necessitated by COVID-19 have forced me to be more creative as my team members and I have been tasked with generating digital content to supplement the JFL modules. We have each taken 4 modules to focus our efforts. The idea is to make this curriculum as engaging and exciting as it would be in person. We have been searching for charts and other visuals, as well as notating any ideas to make filming more interesting. This has been excellent practice in the realities of program planning and development, and the need for several iterations to produce a viable product. Facilitators for each of the modules have been identified, and over the next month we will be in close contact with them to review our generated content and ideas before a finalized plan will be approved for filming.

It is often challenging to see the positives of a pandemic, particularly in the context of economic stability when COVID-19 is responsible for skyrocketing unemployment. However, without the restrictions put in place by the virus limiting social gatherings, there never would have been an impetus to convert this program to an online format. Once complete, JFL will be able to reach individuals who are not fortunate enough to live in an urban, high-resourced area like Wake County. Unemployed and underemployed individuals of rural counties would also benefit from the skills taught in this course, but have previously been limited by transportation and lack of program access. It should be noted that even in an online format, JLF will have to promote its availability in rural areas in order for it to be utilized, and there will still be barriers for some in terms of hardware and internet access. Partnering with available public health entities in these more rural areas will be critical, such as hosting the program through the economic development department at the local health department. One of the additional benefits of the JFL program is the community it creates, appealing specifically to those who identify as Christian through use of biblical passages in each of the modules. This sense of community will be hard to recreate in an online setting, and diminishes the networking capacity of the program. Future development of the program might include creation of online platforms that allow for community building or virtual chat rooms. One part of our practicum includes hosting a virtual job fair, and this might be something to integrate into the overall JFL curriculum when disseminating it to other areas. The Christian focus may increase interest in rural areas, which tend to be more religious, though it should be noted this could be an alienating factor for those who are not religious, or adhere to other faiths. As the semester progresses, further applications of the JFL program in rural areas will be explored.

[ombruff1111]

Visited Community of Hope this week to better understand the multiple ministries offered at First Baptist Church of Garner, including their expanded after-school program and food pantry. Our practicum specifically works with the Jobs for Life ministry, but each program at CoH supports each other. Unemployed visitors to the food pantry are directed to JFL. The after-school program now offers all day care for working parents and when JFL is held in person, CoH offers childcare options for the weekly class.

[ombruff1111]

Generating supplemental materials for the Jobs For Life instructors. Filming takes place in two months, and instructors are hoping to make this online version of the program as engaging as possible using added visuals such as charts, images, and props. I am finding materials to help illustrate job planning, and resume creation, as well as highlighting the steps of the application process and available resources.

[ombruff1111]

The Community of Hope Ministries offers a Jobs for Life program, which is normally a multi-week course in person. Due to the pandemic, the program is being shifted online. At our first in-person meeting, we discussed goals and expectations for the semester, as well as established a timeline for project deliverables. We will be assisting facilitator leaders as they prepare for the filming of each module, as well as take the lead for marketing and developing a virtual job fair this upcoming November.