Jim Tanner knows that progress is going to be a key in his success battling addiction, and he’s already made quite a lot of it.

Tami Booher had been working for the Elliott County Ambulance Service for more than two years when she learned her position had been discontinued and she would be laid off in the summer of 2020. While it wasn’t welcome news, it wouldn’t be long before she was back to work, thanks to the assistance she received from Teleworks USA.

Candace Smith had just completed a year of treatment at Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) in Louisa and she knew a job needed to be her next step. It was June and the country was only a few months into a global pandemic, but she was ready to hit the ground running.

Like many Eastern Kentuckians, coal mining had been Pike County native Aaron Akers’ main source of income since he entered the workforce straight out of high school. 

“Since high school, I went underground to work, and I’ve been laid off several times, hours cut back, insurance cut, having a hard time getting paydays,” Akers explains.

Being pursued for a job was a foreign concept to Lawrence Countian John Stapleton after working in the coal industry for more than a decade—especially when multiple employers at once were calling him to come work for them.

“I had people calling me before I even graduated, and I had three or four different people call. I’ve not ever had that happen,” Stapleton says over the static of his phone, talking during a social distanced phone interview on his lunch.

Koree Stewart was between jobs in 2019 when he decided to apply to begin training at the east Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing Institute (eKAMI) in Johnson County. It was a decision, he says, that he never planned but has since presented him with an opportunity to not only land a job, but take a first step onto a viable career path.

Jesse Hubbard spent more than two decades mining coal underground in Eastern Kentucky. But that career came to a sudden halt in 2019 when Hubbard’s most recent job as a section foreman for Rock Hampton Energy ended as a result of the coal industry’s continuing downturn.

Justin Marcum just completed a long work day outside as he returns to the Martin County Road and Bridge Department near Inez. He’s worked for the county since June as a full-time operator.

Many of the hundreds of Eastern Kentuckians, and their spouses, who lost their jobs due to the current COVID-19 pandemic will have the opportunity to apply for free online cybersecurity courses thanks to ReWork EKY.

Hope, for many, has been the key to their success. Without it, there would have been no reason to keep trying even when things seemed to be falling apart around them. For one Floyd Countian, after a years of struggle with substance use issues a new initiative in his region brought hope back to his life and for his future.

Eastern Kentuckians and their spouses affected by layoffs due to the current COVID-19 pandemic are now eligible to receive assistance through a new program—ReWork EKY—that will help connect them with training or new job opportunities and quickly get back to work.

After more than a decade in the coal industry, Lawrence Countian Kennedy Marcum never thought he would utter such blasphemous words.

Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Inc. is partnering with One East Kentucky, Kentucky Power Company, Ashland Alliance, and Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) to launch the EKYWorks 2.0 workforce study, following up on the region’s first-ever comprehensive workforce study conducted in 2016.

High school juniors and seniors in 23 Appalachian Coalfields counties in Kentucky will have the option to develop cybersecurity skills and earn key industry certifications in two online computer science classes through University of the Cumberlands at no cost to the student this summer and fall.

Career EDGE, a web-based platform to deliver virtual career services to jobseekers, is now being implemented statewide. Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Inc. is excited about this service and the opportunity it provides for jobseekers within its 23-county service area.

By his own admission, Richard Smith’s life wasn’t going how he’d imagined it would.

If you’ve lost your job due to ongoing issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of career centers throughout Eastern Kentucky have instituted a new regional, toll-free hotline to ensure issues with filing a claim for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits will be quickly addressed and eligible funds made available.