The Grand Opening celebration of the Goodwill Industries of the Coastal Empire's newest Job Connections Center was held on Friday, April 15th, in Lyons, Ga.  This Center, which connects businesses with job seekers in Toombs and surrounding counties, began operations in January and offers an array of services and classes.
The Job Connections Center provides job seekers with access to job leads while its computer learning center allows participants to improve and enhance job skills. Job seekers are trained in how to build effective resumes. They learn interviewing skills and also develop effective job search strategies. Local businesses are encouraged to list their job openings and utilize the facility to conduct job interviews.
Through partnerships with other agencies, the community center offers a variety of adult education classes and soon hopes to offer financial literacy classes, health and wellness classes, and GED preparatory classes. Twenty-six community volunteers currently assist students at the center.
In addition to connecting people with jobs, the center serves as home base for Goodwill’s Buena Vida initiative in Toombs County, a program that reaches out to immigrant families to assist them with their search for employment and the support services they need to be successful.
The Buena Vida initiative currently offers adult education and GED classes in Spanish. English as a Second Language (ESL) classes have already started and the center will soon be adding ESL Work Literacy classes, and instruction in Spanish for employers as they face an increasingly diverse workforce. Outreach Coordinator, Rey Morales, is also available to assist employers with interpreting for job interviews.
The Job Connections Community Career Center is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Classes at the center meet seven days a week. Special projects manager, Steven Bellmoff, has issued an appeal for Spanish-language book donations so that the center can improve its library of Spanish publications.
The Center is currently seeking a bi-lingual Career Center Manager to run the agency's day-to-day operations, a position which will free up Outreach Coordinator, Rey Morales, for more direct interaction with the area's latino communities. (See employment notice on page 47 for more information)
For more information on services and/or training opportunities, contact: Rey Morales, Outreach Coordinator, Buena Vida Job Connection Center, 105 Moore Circle, Lyons, Ga. 30436, office phone: 912-335-3963, mobile phone: 912-663-8106.