Restoration of VANTAGE employment funding a relief for local nonprofits

The loss of a single employee can make a huge difference. So when a handful of federally subsidized employees returned to their workplaces Oct. 6, their bosses indulged in a collective sigh of relief.

And yes, the VANTAGE Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) remains operational despite the federal government shutdown.

“Thank God,” said Skeels-Mathews Community Center Director Sharon Sanders. “When they took him away that meant I had to be the maintenance person. After everything I do, I had to clean unless I had a volunteer to come in and help. I’m happy to have him back.”

Her single VANTAGE employee was hired through the SCSEP, which for 40+ years has provided job training and placement to low-income adults aged 55 and older. The federal government shuttered the program in July, giving less than two weeks notice before workers were sent home.

In Portage County, 11 part-time senior employees found themselves furloughed with little warning and no pay. Shepherd’s House, Kent’s Habitat for Humanity ReStore, King Kennedy Community Center, Renaissance Family Center in Windham, SCOPE Portage (Portage Senior Center), Skeels-Mathews Community Center and Center of Hope suddenly found themselves shorthanded.

Shepherd’s House had two VANTAGE employees, which amounted to a fourth of its total paid workforce. One of the workers returned, but the other turned to outside employment.

“She was devastated because she really needed this to survive,” said Shepherd’s House Executive Director Anne Marie Noble. “None of us knew if or when this was going to start up again.”

Losing two 20-hour-a-week employees impacted every aspect of the shelter’s operations. Noble said her other part-time employees, volunteers and shelter guests all stepped up to fill the gap, but it was tough going. Cleaning. Laundry. Kitchen duties. Fielding an ever-increasing amount of phone calls, many of them families seeking emergency shelter.

With her VANTAGE employee restored, Noble hopes her paid and unpaid staff will once again be able to focus on getting people on their feet. Knowing she cannot afford to hire an unsubsidised employee, Noble hopes to find a second VANTAGE employee to replace the one she lost.

“Seniors, they’re more dedicated. It’s a different population. They have great work ethics. We were raised in that environment. You follow it through and you stick with it and you do a good job,” she said.

At the King Kennedy Community Center, Director Myia Sanders watched her single VANTAGE employee continue to show up when he could as a volunteer. Hired as a custodial worker, he also supervised three employees hired through a separate jobs program.

“He loves working down here. He brings his best,” Myia Sanders said. “He works to get the job done, not the hours assigned.”

Myia Sanders said she often found herself handling his supervisory duties instead of focusing on the center’s smooth running. With VANTAGE restored, she said she hopes to gain a second employee to act as a receptionist.

Windham’s Renaissance Family Center had two VANTAGE workers, but Executive Director Betty Gray said only one is returning. Since RFC’s total workforce, not including a teen hired through a separate jobs program, amounts to five, losing two mattered.

“It made it difficult because I had to man the office, as well,” Gray said. “If anybody was unable to come in, we would have to either close the store or people would have to do double duty.”

When the federal funds were frozen, Center of Hope Program Manager LaJoyce Harris found her paid workforce cut from four to two. Suddenly without income, she noticed as her two VANTAGE employees did more than show up for the emergency food pantry’s daily hot meals. They kept company with other guests, extending the fellowship that is Center of Hope’s cornerstone, she said.

Though volunteers filled the operational gap, she said everybody is glad to have the two employees back to working in the kitchen and stocking shelves.

“Things are going to run more smoothly. We’ll be able to do a few more things,” Harris said, the relief evident in her voice.