SHARE Network can help job seekers find employment, services

Project HOPE of Woodlawn Avenue in Cape Girardeau will soon be part of a new statewide database of career, social service and job training resources. The Internet database, to be called the SHARE Network, is funded by the federal Department of Labor.

"We just want to recruit as many people as possible to be connected with it," said HOPE CEO Denis Rigdon. "The more people we get linked up, the better it'll be for the people who come through our door hoping to change their lives."

The SHARE Network is based on the belief that not all low-income job seekers know the services available to them and that a major impediment to their advancement in the job market is the lack of services like child care and transportation. SHARE seeks to level that playing field.

Rigdon calls the network a one-stop shop for employers, those seeking employment help and families seeking social services.

"What it's going to do is increase the connection potential," Rigdon said. "Maybe there is a link on there with information about a community transportation program, or maybe it will bring in the faith community to fill gaps in all kinds of social services, and help people find services available in the faith community like financial education classes, pre-employment training classes, post-employment job retention classes, support for things going on in the family, all sorts of different helpful things."

But Rigdon said the benefit will be a two-way street because it will also allow faith-based organizations to monitor those receiving services.

"When you get that many people in an organization working together, what it does for providers is they can call up a person's Social Security number if they've agreed to give it and see what services they've had in the past," he said. "It allows a ministry to bring some accountability into the interaction, which hasn't always existed before."

Rigdon said he envisions a time in the future where instead of relying solely on unemployment offices, job seekers can enter ministries and work with volunteers to sift through services and job opportunities.

"We train mentors that one of their major duties is to help other people wade through the plethora of services that are out there," Rigdon said. "And it can be so overwhelming that they just quit. Sometimes people having trouble getting jobs just get into a funk and quit trying."

The concept for SHARE is patterned after the North Dakota SHARE network which has grown to include more than 2,000 partners statewide since its creation in 2002. Rigdon believes the Missouri version has the potential to grow even larger and will benefit tens of thousands of people.

"I can't tell you how far out it's going to reach. I think we're only limited by who wants to link to it," said Rigdon, adding that could include Southeast Sstate Missouri State University, the Career and Technology Center, Southeast Hospital and Saint Francis Medical Center.

In other news, Project HOPE announced that it has come to an informal agreement with Kelley Transportation Co. to receive between 10 and 15 of its vehicles free of charge. Rigdon said his organization would not seek to keep all the vehicles in Cape Girardeau, but instead work with other rural communities in need of transportation systems.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245