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?
For more than 28 years, Jubilee Jobs has brought hope to the Washington metropolitan area’s most poor and vulnerable through work. We are one of the few organizations in the area that provide compassionate, skilled job-preparation, placement and the follow-up retention and support services necessary to address one of Washington, DC’s most pressing concerns: the large number of poor, unemployed and underemployed men and women living 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.
The causes of joblessness are vast, and include every social concern imaginable. We serve all who are ready, willing and able to work. We see past the struggles of incarceration, homelessness, poverty, addiction and 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 keep applicants on the job. Our community of support programs alleviates the isolation that comes with poverty and despair and brings 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 $9-15 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 needed to obtain needed education and skills essential to moving forward.
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 the community as a whole.
Helping individuals achieve the dignity of their own labor also helps them to give back to the common good of the community in spending and in contributions in 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 19,000 area job-seekers 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 a new beginning. Experience has verified our belief that people can move out of joblessness and poverty and build a stronger future through opening up access to the job market.
In 2008, more than 2,500 attendees flocked to our orientation program, desperately in search of jobs; and 1,556 enrolled in our program. Despite the present economic challenges, we helped 803 of these men and women enter the workforce. Of those placed, 427 were ex-offenders, 309 homeless, 383 recipients of public assistance, and immigrants representing 18 countries. We placed 515 applicants in entry-level jobs and 288 in Move-Up-level positions earning $9-$15 per hour. Thirty percent of these working applicants are parents whose employment served to improve the lives of some 465 children. Job retention is a very important goal at Jubilee Jobs. To minimize the turnover rate, job counselors 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 2008 job retention rate of 72% - the highest retention rate we have ever had and all the more remarkable considering the 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:
• Harold came to Jubilee Jobs in January, an ex-offender referred after completing a substance abuse recovery program at Samaritan Inns. After completing our job preparation process, Harold was ready to go to work. With copies of his food handler’s license certificate, a cover letter and resume in hand, Harold “pounded the pavement,” as his job counselor puts it. He visited businesses all over the city for several weeks. Because of the encouragement he received from his job counselor, Harold never lost hope, and then the miracle happened! Harold was hired part-time at for a fast-food franchise. Then, a few weeks later, he received a call from another fast-food franchise offering him another position. Now Harold is being recognized by his employer for being an excellent cashier and has received a cash reward for his excellent work. His picture, along side the franchise owner and the president of the corporate division, will appear in the franchise’s quarterly magazine. He is well on his way to a successful, independent future.
• Maria is from Brazil and had been a housekeeper for a family for 19 years. But because of the economy, she lost her job. She had been looking for work for more that 6 months, when she came to Jubilee. Her job counselor helped her get hired by Hobart West making $10.00 per hour part-time. Now she has moved into a better position, working full-time for an area hospital making $14 per hour with benefits. Maria was recently selected as the hospital’s “Employee of the Month.”
• Cheryl, a 50-year old applicant and mother of two, first came to Jubilee Jobs in 2004. She was thrilled to find her life direction through our program. Cheryl notes: “Every job Jubilee Jobs sent me on, I got hired immediately.” She focused on child care because her job counselor helped her realize working with kids was something she had always loved and done well. She started as a teacher’s aide at $7.00 an hour. She then moved into a Move Up job at for a daycare earning $10 an hour. She was matched with a mentor who was the director of her own Montessori school for many years. Cheryl is now enrolled at a local university, pursuing a major in psychology with a minor in child development while working part-time. She began classes in 2008, and says her long-term goal is a career in art and play therapy. Cheryl came for an office visit to let us know how excited she was to have purchased her first automobile and to have moved into her own apartment.
• James displays the patience and diligence sometimes required of our applicants to move ahead. He has been a part of our program since 2002. After his first placement in food service, James has continued to scale the career ladder. James remained connected with Jubilee Jobs, often meeting weekly with our Move-Up counselor, attending monthly Job Friends meetings, and serving as a member of our applicant advisory board. This year, after completing an online application, successful interviews and passing a background check, James begins a new Move-Up job as a maintenance worker earning $17 per hour with benefits. He is responsible for the upkeep of various historical government buildings.
• And last but not least, Darryl recently graduated from UDC in May 2009, receiving his bachelor’s degree in architecture. He calls Jubilee Jobs his “stepping stone.” After six months of entry-level food-service employment, Darryl decided to go back to school, this after being kicked out of junior high school and earning a GED instead of a high school diploma. Darryl is progressing from poverty, homelessness, and addiction to entry into the job market and continued progress. He relates, “It’s been a long journey for me – I couldn’t have done it without support of the community.” Among his many accomplishments, he boasts especially about being able to be a full-time father to his 14-year old daughter.
We all celebrate these wonderful achievements.
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