City Mission, jail join forces on jobs program for those on work release
From left, Michael Kasula, Washington County jail’s alternate sentencing coordinator, Cathy Zuback, vocational services manager at Washington City Mission, Cora Mitchell, vocational training coordinator at Washington City Mission, and Judy Klobucar, treatment supervisor at the jail, are heading up a new program, “Bridge the Gap,” which will allow low-level offenders at the jail who are approved for work release to go through a three-week program to learn about finding employment.
The “Bridge the Gap” program includes three weeks of training and courses on employment, including instruction on email etiquette, professional image and understanding time management.
From left, Michael Kasula, Washington County Jail alternate sentencing coordinator, Judy Klobucar, the jail’s treatment supervisor, Cathy Zuback,vocational services manager at Washington City Mission, and Cora Mitchell, vocational training coordinator at the mission, discuss the “Bridge the Gap” program.
Cathy Zuback has an extensive background in corrections. She owned a rehabilitation company in Florida for 25 years before retiring, moving back to the region and accepting a job at Washington County jail.
While there, she recognized a necessity to “Bridge the Gap.”
“I was working at the jail when I realized how badly inmates needed a program like this,” she said. “So we proposed the idea.”
Now the vocational services manager at Washington City Mission, Zuback has pitched a plan to provide a job-readiness program to low-level offenders at the jail who have been approved for work release. She discussed her brainchild with three officials at the lockup and with county Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan last fall.
Zuback got a thumbs-up. The brainchild will arrive Feb. 13.
It is called “Bridge the Gap,” and will launch that day in a training room at the mission. Participants will follow a three-week curriculum, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Zuback and Cora Mitchell, vocational training coordinator at the facility, will supervise the class, which will include instruction, advice, workbooks, videos, resume writing and lots of discussions about employment.
This is the first joint venture between the jail and its neighbor across West Wheeling Street in downtown Washington.
The intent is to prepare offenders for long-term and better-paying positions.
“My background is in corrections,” Zuback said. “I’ve seen guys released in the community who don’t have jobs. I saw a definite need to educate these inmates, so they could obtain a sustainable wage.”
That curriculum, said Judy Klobucar, jail treatment supervisor, “is very involved. We hope the program gives them more viable skills. We’re hoping this opens doors for more employment options.”
Specifics for “Bridge the Gap” were unveiled Tuesday at the mission. Zuback, Klobucar, Mitchell and Michael Kasula, the jail’s alternate sentencing coordinator, were on hand to publicize their initiative.
Zuback said candidates will undergo tests “to determine their attitudes and work interests and values. That information will enable us to determine types of jobs for them and the training they will need.”
Signing up for the program does not mean an inmate will be included. “They are screened,” Klobucar said.
Ten men will comprise the initial class. “We’ll start with male offenders,” she added. “If all goes well, we can go with females.”
The ideal class size, Zuback said, would be “20 to 30.”
Overseers of the program can link inmates to jobs in numerous locations, but will strive to steer candidates to positions close to their homes. “We have to consider transportation and such with a job search,” Zuback said.
“Bridge the Gap” leaders also can link candidates to any of a number of PA CareerLink offices in Western Pennsylvania.
A key objective of the program, Kasula said, is to provide a job opportunity that would keep an individual from returning to jail after he/she has been released.
“We want to close the revolving door,” he said. “Some come out and have no employment, no source of income, and they may go back to the crime that (got them incarcerated).”
For Zuback, a Marianna area farmer, the first class Feb. 13 will bridge a personal gap. It will have been six months between introducing her idea to Kasula, Klobucar, warden Edward Strawn and Irey Vaughan and watching it reach fruition.
Her brainchild will arrive in 19 days, along with opportunities for some who need them.