This story is sponsored by Catholic Charities of Toledo Diocese – Richland County.
The 3E Project aims to impact the lives of employers and employees by providing the community with better access to personal budgeting and soft skill development, while empowering, encouraging and engaging individuals to be self-supporting.
Jenni Paramore, Community Outreach Education Manager at Directions Credit Union, chairs the advisory board at Catholic Charities and the Area 10 Workforce Board. She has been involved with the 3E project since its inception.
“It’s important to give people who sometimes lost their jobs because of barriers an opportunity to avoid that by developing relationships with employers that would allow caseworkers to go to a person’s place of employment so they wouldn’t have to take time off work to seek assistance,” Paramore said. “And you know, it was a pretty simple concept in the beginning.”
Catholic Charities teams up with workplaces by providing services, like coaching and classes, both on and off site, in order to assist employees in keeping their job, and continuing to learn and grow from it.
“I think the biggest impact you would find from speaking to employers who have engaged with the program…let’s say if a person can’t come to work because their car broke down, and they don’t know who to turn to about that, if you have case workers on the jobsite they’ll come to work, they can meet with the caseworker there and help solve the problem,” Paramore said.
“Catholic Charities assists in finding solutions, because the whole process is a matter of giving people a hand up, not a hand out,” Paramore said.
Director of Workforce Development at the Richland Area Chamber, Economic Development, Clint Knight, is an advocate for the program. He acknowledges that the 3E program addresses the barriers that many deal with when working, or searching for a job, and supports employees so they can continue to work.
There’s a variety of issues that can come between an individual and maintaining a job. Common issues like lack of transportation and social support are often overlooked, and the 3E program aims to change that.
“Supporting someone, an employee, in ways that helps them retain their job, you’re building good habits, you’re building good skills, and not just the skills necessary to use at work,” said Knight.
“Things like soft skills. They’re able to have a more consistent lifestyle and be more successful in their work.”
The 3E program offers opportunities ranging from personal financing to learning how to manage frustration. It helps teach people how to work with others and properly communicate, both in the workplace and outside of it.
“We really do have to come together as a community,” Paramore said. “That old saying, ‘it takes a village’ is the truth. It takes a village to make the community strong, so that’s what we need. Cooperation.”
To learn more about the program or if you are an employer who wants to bring the 3E project to your worksite, contact Brian C. Hunt at 419-524-0733 or bhunt@toldeodiocese.org.
