Jubilee Jobs, Inc.

Through compassionate, professional job counseling, Jubilee Jobs helps struggling unemployed people find appropriate marketplace jobs and then, with support and accountability, move into career positions -- over 19,000 served since 1981.

Why do we exist?

As we approach a major milestone of 30 years of service in the Washington metropolitan community, we are proud to be a place of hope for our communities’ most poor and vulnerable residents through work. We are one of few organizations in the area to provide skilled job-preparation, placement and the follow-up retention and support services necessary to address a most pressing concern: the large number of poor, unemployed and underemployed men and women who live in the community and the children for whom they are responsible. We strive to give individuals adequate employment and income to enable them to provide for basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, and financial support for themselves and their families and, ultimately, to move toward sustainable self-sufficiency.

The causes of joblessness are myriad, and include every social concern imaginable. We serve all who are ready, willing and able to work. We see past the struggles presented by incarceration, homelessness, poverty, and addiction to envision everyone’s ability for successful, productive lives. Job placement is merely a first step in our process, which begins the life transformation for many of our applicants. Once working, focus turns to our unique program of job retention, which includes regular contact with working applicants and employers, and provides a community of support to help keep applicants on the job. Our community-of-support programs help alleviate the isolation that comes with poverty and despair and bring together groups of people focused on applicant success and growth. Those who continue to work and participate regularly in this support community are then eligible for Move-Up counseling and placement in positions earning $9 to $15 per hour with benefits. Employment is now becoming a powerful motivator for further education. Many of our applicants, initially only capable of holding entry-level jobs, are now taking the steps to obtain needed education and skills essential to moving forward, particularly in this economic climate.

We carry out our mission knowing that our work is only accomplished through the collaboration of people who care about the community and its residents. By working together we not only help those in need, we help ourselves and our entire community.
Helping individuals achieve the dignity of their own labor through meaningful employment also helps them to give back to the common good of the community by spending and in their contributions to taxes, Medicare and Social Security.

What have you accomplished?

Jubilee Jobs creates new beginnings for those with great need. To date, we have helped more than 20,000 area jobseekers hear the magical words, “You’re hired,” and begin the journey toward a living wage. Our services are free to all who are ready to make that new beginning. Experience has verified our belief that people can move out of joblessness and poverty and build a stronger future through open access to the job market.

In 2009, more than 3,000 attendees flocked to our orientation program, desperately searching for jobs; 1,823 enrolled in our program. Despite the most serious recession since the Great Depression, we helped 751 of these men and women enter the workforce. Of the 751 placed, 378 were ex-offenders, 266 homeless, 350 recipients of public assistance, and immigrants representing 29 countries. We placed 463 applicants in entry-level jobs and 288 in Move-Up-level positions. Thirty-one percent of these working applicants are parents whose employment served to improve the lives of 491 children. Job retention is a very important goal at Jubilee Jobs. To minimize the turnover rate, job counselors and other staff maintain close contact with applicants for a minimum of two years. Our Job Friends program offers monthly meetings for working applicants to build skills and connections and provides clients with a supportive community devoted to their success at work. These efforts were instrumental in an impressive 2009 job retention rate of 69% - the highest retention rate we have ever had - all the more remarkable considering a typical turnover rate of almost 100% for most entry-level employment.

All over the city, Jubilee Jobs applicants are reaching for the stars and demonstrating how entry into the job market leads to unlimited possibilities and independent futures.  It is always wonderful to hear amazing stories of the accomplishments of applicants after enrollment in our program.  Examples of successes we celebrate, as applicants continue to be part of our community, are included below:
• At our Job Friends Christmas dinner, we celebrated applicants who have been working for one year. Patricia shared with us her own painful journey of losing her job at age 43 and living in a homeless shelter with her 17-year old daughter. Now she is working full time at a hospital and enjoying her own apartment.  She said, “When I came to the orientation, they told me I would earn $7.25 per hour. I laughed. Who can survive on $7.25 per hour, even in a shelter! But now I am working full-time, earning more than $13 per hour and we live in our own apartment.” After Patricia shared her story, many applicants at the dinner began to share their own struggles with homelessness and shelter living. One 51-year old gentleman, now working at a grocery store, spoke movingly about having his name on an apartment lease for the first time in his life and paying his own telephone bill.
• Thomas, father of five children, came to Jubilee Jobs at the end of 2008 looking for work. Though he was already skilled in building maintenance, he was having a difficult time finding steady work. Soon he was hired by a cleaning company for contract work. But when the contract ended, so did his means of support. A contact at the cleaning company recommended Thomas for a cleaning position at a local church and he got that job. Unfortunately Thomas was arrested in the summer and the church had to let him go. He had also applied for work with an apartment complex and they were ready to hire him until the arrest showed up in the clearance process. Ultimately, Thomas’ charges were dismissed and he found himself starting all over again. He went back to work at the cleaning company for contract work, barely surviving on 10-12 hours of work per week. Without adequate income, Thomas’ electricity and telephone were cut off, but he did not give up hope. Thomas’ job counselor helped him find a job as a porter at a nursing home earning $9 per hour. In three months, he will be eligible for benefits. In addition, another Jubilee Jobs applicant who works at the nursing home has moved into a higher position opening up a maintenance position there. Now because of Thomas’ building maintenance skills, he is eligible for that job.
• Marcelle came to a Jubilee Jobs orientation in January 2009. Originally from the Republic of Congo, she traveled to the U.S. with her husband in search of a better life. By February, she had gotten hired at a nursing home as a cook making $7.55 per hour. After five months on the job, Marcelle began earning health benefits and received a fifty-cent raise. Now, she’s earning $10.25 per hour with benefits. What was her secret to Moving-Up? After six months, she began working with our Move-Up counselor for help finding a higher-paying position. While working at the nursing home, she realized that a good career track for her would be to become a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). She found out about the Vital Management Team Education Center from her husband who learned about the organization’s CNA program at our monthly Job Friends dinner meeting. She enrolled and not only received her certification, but graduated valedictorian. Now she just has to pass the State Board Exam.
• Earl came to Jubilee Jobs four years ago. After years of addiction, he enrolled in a treatment program and after graduating, he was then directed to Jubilee Jobs to find work. He began working at a grocery store as a courtesy clerk in 2006. Then in 2008, Earl began apprenticeship training to become a meat cutter. Earl states, “I’ve never held a job this long before.” His goals are to go back to school for his high school diploma and to save up enough money for his own place and a car. Earl’s advice to new jobseekers – “Stay on the job, you’ll go forward!”

In the midst of the pain and suffering of so many during this economic crisis, we can still rejoice over the miracles, small and large, in the lives of applicants which you make possible. We all celebrate these wonderful achievements.

	How do you help people in my community?		Why do you need my support?
	How can I be sure that you will use my money wisely and won't waste it?		Can I Volunteer? How?