Wichita Workforce Center to expand job services to help people who were incarcerated
Around 100 people in the Wichita area who are reintegrating after incarceration will be able to access expanded employment services next year through the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, after the organization received a new federal grant of nearly $1 million.
The Workforce Alliance received the $992,107 grant as part of the Pathway Home Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, the center announced Monday. It will use the money to expand employment and training services to people who are re-entering the workforce after serving a prison sentence.
Those services can include education, training, job preparation, legal aid and assistance connecting to social services, said Keith Lawing, CEO of the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas.
Pathway Home Grants help fund reentry services to improve employment outcomes for adults who have been imprisoned. The services are meant to help ease the transition back into society.
Wichita is one of three cities to receive the grant, which totals $3.5 million to be split among cities. Portions of the total funding will also go to similar workforce centers in Kansas City and Pittsburgh. It will provide services for about 300 participants total, 100 of which will be in Wichita.
The grant will run for more than 3 years, with the expanded services beginning in January and ending in December 2022, for a total of two years in action.
A planning phase will take place now through the end of the year and there will be a yearlong follow-up phase beginning in January 2023.
The Kansas Department of Corrections, Kansas Legal Services, the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and WSU Tech are all local partners of the Workforce Center for the grant.
The grant is in collaboration with Midwest Urban Strategies, a coalition of 13 workforce boards across 11 states that collaborate on projects addressing common employment issues in urban communities.
The Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, a member of MUS, will begin to design the local program in the coming months for implementation early next year.
The organization has worked with community partners since 2012 to serve former offenders relocating to the Wichita area and help them re-enter the workforce.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 1:25 PM.
