‘Second-chance seminars’ show Wiregrass employers benefits of high-risk employees

“Second-chance Seminars” are at the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center auditorium, 301 W. Lafayette St.
Nov. 19, 2009
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May 2010
August 2010

The Alfred Saliba Family Services Center is trying to encourage local businesses to give people a second chance at life.

The center’s Businesses Offering Second-chances and Support program, in conjunction with several local agencies, will present four seminars over the next 10 months aimed at showing employers the benefits of hiring residents who may be considered high-risk.

High-risk employees include ex-convicts, people with disabilities, veterans and senior citizens, just to name a few groups.

The first such seminar will be on Nov. 19, and those in charge of the program hope to provide enough examples to show local businesses and agencies that people can and do change for the better when given opportunities.

“We believe we can strengthen the families through creating an employer network of opportunities, education and training that will help the family, reduce recidivism, build a stronger economy and community in Dothan,” said Lawrence Keener, community career development center coordinator for the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center. “There are so many people being released from jail coming to our community who can’t get a job because of their history that, in the long run, it’s going to cost our community from standpoint of poverty and public safety. A working citizen can be a role model to children, wean himself off programs that have aided in hindering him from developing his own skills.”

Keener deals with such individuals on a daily basis, offering residents a combination of job readiness training, telephone etiquette, attitude improvement and access to available scholarships they can use to develop the skills they need to develop as citizens.

According to Keener, businesses have numerous reasons to hire high-risk employees.

“There are tax incentives, help from Alabama Career Services, federal bonding, and the main benefit is reducing recidivism and making these people into tax-paying citizens,” he said. “If the family is together, that’s going to strengthen the family, because the child will have a father or mother who is there to support them. It is highly likely if someone gets a job within six months of getting out, they will recover and stay out.”

At the Nov. 19 seminar, the guest speakers will be Dothan Mayor Mike Schmitz and Michael Hamm of Crossroads Ranch.

The seminars are open to any employers or agencies who want to attend.