Goodwill is proud to be celebrating our third year at Sojourner Family Peace Center, providing job search assistance to help clients find work, job sector training and support, and financial empowerment services.
Sojourner Family Peace Center is an innovative model that co-locates multi-sector agencies and serves families impacted by violence in a single facility. Co-located partners include non-profit organizations, justice system representatives, crisis shelter, health care agencies, legal partners, schools, and agencies focusing on healing and wellness. The partnership was adapted from the nationally recognized Family Justice Center (FJC) model and was designed to effectively respond to families who have experienced violence and treat the whole person with a holistic, co-location approach.
“With enhanced collaboration between partners and families, we provide seamless, cohesive experiences that promote hope, healing and well-being for children and families impacted by domestic violence,” says Carmen Pitre, Sojourner President and CEO.
Goodwill is proud to be one of the 18 Family Peace Center Partners, which include:
- Sojourner
- Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin: Milwaukee Child Advocacy Center, Behavioral Health, Project Ujima
- District Attorney’s Office/DV Unit
- Milwaukee Police Department - Sensitive Crimes Division
- Milwaukee Public Schools
- Aurora Healing & Advocacy Services
- CORE/El Centro
- Jewish Family Services
- Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin
- Wraparound Milwaukee
Goodwill’s partnership with Sojourner goes back many years. When their team began to explore the opportunity to build what would become Sojourner Family Peace Center, Goodwill was eager to add our expertise in workforce development to the mix of services that would be offered, landing on the idea of co-locating a Workforce Connection Center Community Access Point. “The idea behind the co-location of services is to facilitate ease of access, lessening of trauma and to effectively meet the needs of the individual/family with a customized plan of action and services – first and foremost to establish safety and then promote healing. Goodwill is so proud to be a part of this team,” says Rosann Lewis, Area Manager of the Workforce Connection Centers.
Goodwill’s role at Sojourner Family Peace Center is to provide workforce development services in the areas of job seeker services, job sector training and support, and financial empowerment services. A Goodwill Workforce Connection Center staff member is located at the Family Peace Center on a full-time basis and brings in other Goodwill staff as needed to provide additional help. This may include appointments for financial empowerment services, or information sessions and case management services supporting training program participants. Actual training components take place at Goodwill facilities.
“The work we do at Sojourner Family Peace Center is different than in our other centers. Because our clients are survivors of domestic violence, their process to finding employment often requires more consultative work to help them determine what kind of work they want to do based on past skills and experience,” says Rosann Lewis, Area Manager of the Workforce Connection Centers. For some clients, they may be new to the workforce and unsure of how to start, so WCC staff may use additional resources to help clients figure out what kinds of work they may be interested in and successful at doing. “The WCC role in the Sojourner Family Peace Center process is to help clients find meaningful employment that supports their efforts towards financial independence. We do that by offering diverse employment services and as much time as the client needs to meet their employment goals,” says Lewis.
Sojourner Family Peace Center’s model is working. In the last three years of partnership we have served over 500 clients and helped them find hope through work. One of our first clients at Sojourner Family Peace Center, Tanya*, fled from an abusive relationship and began her journey at Sojourner Truth House, a crisis shelter for women and their children, in Spring of 2016. She accessed Sojourner’s Life Skills Program and was subsequently referred to Goodwill’s Workforce Development Services. Ee Lee Goodwill’s Onsite Coordinator, assisted her in building a resume and submitting online applications related to her skill set and goals for employment. Tanya attended a WCC recruitment event held at Sojourner Family Peace Center with local companies, and was hired for a role in Membership at a local business.
The coordinated services and support that Tanya received through Sojourner Family Peace Center helped build her self-confidence as she took steps toward greater independence. Tanya has continued to advance at her job, and was promoted to Supervisor last year. She is now starting a Manager-in-training program at her company and is hoping to be able to move up even further. She was proud to tell us that she just purchased her first home.
“Our survival depends on me being successful and I never want to be in the same situation again by being homeless and having nothing,” says Tanya.
For more information on the Goodwill and Sojourner Family Peace Center partnership, please contact Rosann Lewis, Goodwill’s Area Manager for the Workforce Connection Centers, at (414) 847-4778 or rosann.lewis@goodwillsew.com.
