Location: Georgia Travis Center

In attendance: Fernando Cruz-EHC, Art Taylor-SJ Family Shelter, Alison Dougherty-Santa Clara Adult Education, Francella Stevens-Inn Vision, Jenny Niklaus-Sacred Heart Community Services, Courtney Bober-San Jose Cathedral Foundation, Art Lorenz (guest speaker)-Ascent Employment Services

Art Lorenz from Ascent Employment Services was our guest speaker.  He gave us info. on their program that is located adjacent to the Queen of Apostles Church on Moorpark.  They receive a lot of referrals from the parole department and focus on encouragement, motivation, and counseling to their participants in the program to find work.  When individuals first enter the program they have them fill out an application and resume form and they take it from there.  Ascent's volunteer staff will coach parolees on how to find work and encourage them to just keep trying-their credo being "Never Give Up."  Art shared their success working with individuals with problem backgrounds-46 individuals in their program found jobs in March, of those 46, 15 of them had felony backgrounds and 12 were in recovery programs or Sober Living Environments (SLE's).  Ascent also works with a lawyer, Mr. Shay that is willing to work on expungements of individuals with felony backgrounds of 7 years old or more.  Mr. Shay will work on a pro bono basis, but may require the individual to pay the $65 court filing fee.

We spoke of tax credits available to employers for hiring felons.  Many employers are unaware of them.  The Parolee Employment Program (PEP), formerly Jobs Plus, is back to work, helping individuals on state parole find employment.  A referral is needed from the parole officer, which could be faxed over to PEP.  A lot of parole officers do not inform their parolee's about this program.

Francella discussed how she is focused on moving from service to empowerment approach with her clients.

Art announced that the San Jose Family Shelter has hired a part-time employment services person to help their clients to find jobs.

We talked about bonding, which could be done through EDD as long as there is a job offer from the employer.  The standard bond is typically $5,000 and individuals could self-bond.  We talked about the possibility of inviting someone from EDD to speak to our group about bonding.

We spoke of other programs that may benefit our efforts and clients, again stressing our need to get the Workforce Investment Network (WIN) as an integral piece for more finding, information, and partnership.

We briefly discussed the 5-year plan 2004 status.

Next meeting will be held on May 18, 2004, 11:30-1:00, at ???