July 6, 2023 5p
(WGTD)---A non-profit that started from scratch in Racine to help hard-to-place people land family-supporting jobs is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
They’re also marking another milestone. Racine/Kenosha Vocational Ministry has now worked with over 5,000 clients.
Speaking on a recent edition of WGTD’s Morning Show, R-K-V-M executive director James Schatzman emphasized that his group is not a traditional job placement agency. He says the focus is working to change mindsets. "We are not a quick process. We are a process of life development--what some experts call soft skill development," Schatzman said. "Placing a person in a job whose mindset is riddled with criminality is a recipe for disaster," he said.
Schatzman says the agency has people on staff that are able to relate to clients through what he calls “lived experience.”
Heather Bennett is a R-K-V-M program director. She says the process involves building relationships, achieving trust and telling the truth. "When you're giving tough love out in a compassionate way, they feel that and they respond to that," Bennett said. "You can take the toughest of street gang members and put them in our offices and we're able to connect with them and work with them in a way that you'd never imagine because we keep it real with them," she said.
Racine/Kenosha Vocational Ministry is borne out of work that began some 22 years ago at Schatzman’s church, St. Luke’s Episcopal.
The non-profit now has eight employees, and works closely with the state Department of Corrections.
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