MOUNT VERNON – Though the doors of the Opportunity Knox Employment Center didn’t reopen until earlier this year, staff members were able to provide all services virtually in 2020.
“It had moments when, in our early days, when everything got shuttered in March, April, where it wasn’t quite as busy,” Matthew Kurtz, director of Knox County Job & Family Services, said after the Knox County Board of Commissioners’ March 4 meeting.
Brandy Booth, administrator for the department, presented an update on the division’s 2020 activities to the commissioners. Her report stated that after the building closed, staff provided all services virtually and with safety precautions if in-person meetings were necessary.
“We were continuing to serve the public — at first just virtually — and then we just started bringing people in by appointment so that we could control distancing and who’s coming in,” Kurtz said. “And then after the first of the year, we just opened the building again, and we kind of monitor folks as they come in.”
They continued to help employers find candidates, including essential workers immediately after the public health emergency was declared. More families applied for public assistance, and more young people reached out for education services.
Despite the building being closed for 9½ months of the year, 2,887 visitors utilized the building and staff administered 244 testing services, Booth reported. Testing included pre-employment testing; youth classroom GED prep; TABE, a diagnostic test used to determine a person’s skill levels and aptitudes; and skills assessments. Ninety-six TABE tests and 11 skills assessments were administered.
The 15 young people who earned their GED in the program in 2020 was the highest number since 2012, her report said.
The pandemic decreased the number of students served in the youth classroom, but 14 high school students completed 16 courses toward high school graduation.
The CCMEP/D.R.E.A.M. workforce development program run by the Knox Opportunity Resource Center has 43 youth ages 14-24 actively enrolled, with another 20 participants in follow-up services.
The Resource Room helped 1,300 visitors. Résumés for 122 people were prepared, and 111 job postings were made on OhioMeansJobs.com by staff for 70 local employers.
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