The Displaced Worker Center operated from Mary Herbert Learning Center’s conference room will end operations on April 30, and alphabetically based scheduling has been eliminated.
United Way Executive Director Duane Dreiling, whose agency has coordinated the center, said that a total of 180 households have been processed through the system in the three days the center has been open.
“They can process up to 60 per day, and we have filled up those slots,” he said. “... It really has been working very, very well and we’re pleased with that.”
Dreiling said that the center is open to anyone who has been displaced from a job.
“We want to be very clear that the dislocated worker center is for anyone who has been displaced from their workplace,” he said. “It is open to anyone. It is not strictly limited to just the Tyson employees.”
Applicants need to show paychecks or pay stubs and documentation that they have been laid off.
The worker center initially provided services on Mondays for workers whose names began with letters N through Z and on Wednesdays for those whose names began with A through M.
Now, workers will be able to come on either day.
“If they had other commitments, maybe a job interview, then they’d have to wait a whole week to come,” Dreiling said. “We are removing that (restriction).”
The process at the center has been an effective one and is working well, he said.
Displaced workers complete intake forms with the Salvation Army, and can get help, as needed, from representatives of Social and Rehabilitation Services, the Mental Health Center of East-Central Kansas, Kansas Gas Service and Westar, Consumer Credit Counseling, Flint Hills Community Health Center, Newman Regional Health, KansasWorks and the Kansas Department of Labor.
After the workers have been entered into the system through intake, they are able to get assistance from whichever agencies are appropriate for their situations.
“Once they have been around and visited with the individual agencies they need to visit with, when they finish that and as the household leaves, they receive a box of groceries and a box of chicken,” Dreiling said. “So every family walks away with food to help feed their family. ...
“It really has been working very, very well, and we’re pleased with that.”