Bell Countian Darrell Estep Steps into New Job with Help from Bell-Whitley JobSight and Opportunity Youth Program

Darrell Estep was 20 years old, had recently completed rehab, and ready for a new start with a new job.

A resident of Bell County, Estep was also a participant in the local Drug Court program, which provides an alternative to incarceration for individuals charged with drug-related offenses. As a requirement of his participation, Estep needed to find a job and was referred to Bell-Whitley Community Action for employment assistance, a service he was unaware the agency offered at the time.

“I didn’t even know what they did up until that point,” he said. 

A partner in the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of workforce centers, Bell-Whitley provides Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) services in Bell County under contract with Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP). Those services include programs for adults, dislocated workers, and youth who may need assistance honing skills such as résumé building or networking with local employers, or who need assistance being retrained or going to school.

In Estep’s case, he began working with WIOA Director Alex Barnett, who determined his eligibility for the JobSight’s Opportunity Youth program, which provides employment services to eligible individuals between the ages of 18-24 who face certain barriers to employment. In just a week, he said, Barnett had secured a work experience position for him at Blue Diamond Industries in Middlesboro, which manufactures conduit products for a variety of purposes including power utility, cable TV, and broadband.

Estep’s new position would help him gain valuable on-the-job experience while Bell-Whitley provided funds that would allow him to begin earning a salary at the same time. And Barnett made the process of enrolling for services and getting back on track with a new job an easy one to complete.

“The first time I went in there to talk to Alex, it was specifically about the job and trying to find me a job,” Estep said. “I told her I wanted to try and get on at Blue Diamond, and she said give her a week. I had to go back and see her a week later and she said, ‘You got the job, and you start this day.’

“Alex was really good about it,” he continued. “She took the time out of the day to meet me at Blue Diamond in Middlesboro to take a tour of the factory before I ever started.”

By November 2021, Estep had completed 480 hours of work experience funded by Bell-Whitley and his work at Blue Diamond was going so well that he received an offer for a full-time position as a reel kicker. It wasn’t long after that Estep received a promotion to senior line trainer, and he’s currently in training for another move up. 

While Estep’s work experience helped him progress quickly to full-time employment, it wasn’t the only assistance Barnett was able to provide, he noted. In the latter part of 2021, while looking for an apartment, he needed to come up with the initial funds that would allow him to secure his own housing. 

“I made enough money to get an apartment, but the only thing that was hard was trying to get the deposit and first month’s rent,” Estep said. “I texted Alex one day about six months ago, and within a two- or three-week period she had the money I was needing approved and ready to go.”

The services available at Bell-Whitley played a significant role in ensuring that Estep landed a job quickly and was able to begin earning a living, he said, adding that he would recommend anyone in a similar situation to reach out to Barnett and her staff to see what assistance might be available.

“Everything I’ve gone to get help for, Alex helped me out a lot,” he said. “She made it easy.”

For more information about the services available at the Bell-Whitley Kentucky Career Center JobSight, visit jobsight.org or call 606-337-3044.

EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. The agency provides an array of workforce development services and operates the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of workforce centers, which provide access to more than a dozen state and federal programs that offer employment and training assistance for jobseekers and employers all under one roof. Learn more about us at http://www.ekcep.org, http://www.jobsight.org, and http://www.facebook.com/ekcep.