• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Group looks to help laid-off workers in Janesville area

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

John Ramsdell was laid off from his job at Lear Seating but has returned to school at UW-Rock County with the goal of becoming an elementary school teacher.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Chris Lopez talks discusses going back to school during a Java and Jobs session.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Michelle Lopez talks about dealing with the financial difficulties as a dislocated worker during a Java and Jobs session at the UAW Hall in Janesville.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Dislocated workers talk about their experiences during a Java and Jobs session at the job center annex at the UAW Hall in Janesville.

Christian and Michelle Lopez had never missed a payment on anything until they were laid off within four months of each other.

Now, the Milton couple are dealing with a whole new world—one with payment plans, unemployment assistance, retraining and very few jobs.

They’ve had to explain to their 8-year-old and 3-year-old sons why they can’t go out to eat or buy new toys.

“As hard as it is for the kids, it’s hard for us, too,” Christian said. “You have to adjust to a totally different lifestyle.”

The recession has been hard on all of Rock County. Thousands have been laid off from General Motors, Lear and other auto suppliers, with more layoffs coming from other struggling industries. Those in turn have hurt local businesses, starting a chain reaction.

The members of CORD—Collaborative Organizations Responding to Dislocation—know how widespread the problem is. The group is working to get a handle on what unemployed workers need and how it can help fill in the gaps.

The collaboration started as a workshop for representatives of local organizations such as charities, technical colleges and the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board.

But they soon decided to keep working together, looking for ways to create new programs, attract grants and reach out to workers, said Sue Conley, executive director of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin.

The organization knows its task is a broad one. At a recent meeting, members discussed needs from child care to transportation to financial counseling.

Kerri Parker of the Rock County YWCA and Theresa Marshall of the Janesville Community Day Care Center told the group that day care enrollment has dropped dramatically. Marshall said she has cut hours at the center and might have to lay off an employee.

“The families that are still working, they are working at fast food places,” Marshall said. “They are not bringing in the money to pay their tuition.”

Scholarship sources are drying up, and many don’t know how to get public assistance even if it’s available, Parker said.

“They’ve never been in the system before, and they don’t know how to navigate it,” she said.

In fact, education—teaching the unemployed what resources are available and how to prepare themselves for future jobs—is one of the most important things for dislocated workers, Conley said, and an area where CORD has devoted much of its attention so far.

The group has worked with the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board to create a “job annex” at the UAW Local 95 Hall, thinking former auto workers might be more comfortable there than at the Rock County Job Center.

Once a week, the annex hosts “Java and Jobs,” a session where workers can discuss their concerns with job center specialists and just vent. The Lopezes attended Friday for the second time with about a dozen other laid-off workers.

It has created a CORD newsletter, letting people know about opportunities and benefits, and worked with the United Auto Workers to identify dislocated unemployed workers.

“One of the major things we realized right away was that when GM closed, we had no way to contact the people who had become dislocated,” Conley said.

CORD also is working on a proposal to expand credit counseling and hopes to turn its attention to health care, too, Conley said. It knows it’s only seeing the beginning of the need because many GM workers still are receiving nearly full pay, and others are on extended unemployment benefits that will eventually run out.

The group is focusing on assistance, leaving economic development to other organizations. In other words, it’s trying to keep things together until jobs come back to the community.

“We’re really just trying to do what we can to make lives better around here,” Conley said.

Group has seen success, knows more need help

The group Collaborative Organizations Responding to Dislocation knows there’s a lot of need for assistance for dislocated workers.

But it’s also seen some success stories, members said.

John Ramsdell hopes to be one of them. The 42-year-old Janesville man is working toward a teaching degree after being laid off from Lear in December.

Ramsdell speaks cheerfully and calmly now, but that’s not how he was feeling when he learned he was losing his job of 17 years.

“It was panic,” he said. “I had a family to support.”

But through a series of meetings and the help of a caseworker at the Rock County Job Center, he realized he qualifies for retraining benefits. He started classes in winter at UW-Rock County, on his way to completing a bachelor’s degree he started more than 20 years ago.

Ramsdell plans to major in elementary education and transfer to UW-Whitewater to complete the degree.

“It’s been a golden opportunity,” he said of the retraining benefits. “I didn’t want to get back into a situation like I was before, an unskilled worker.”

Michelle Lopez, Milton, also is working toward a teaching license after being laid off from Alcoa Wheels in November. She works hard to get good grades while taking care of her family, she said. Her husband, Christian, also is laid off and thinking about returning to school.

“The state is doing a lot to get the resources for education,” Christian said.

Many more dislocated workers are eligible for retraining benefits but haven’t taken advantage of them, said Bob Borremans, executive director of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board.

“Of the 8,000 or 9,000 (unemployed) people in our area, we’ve only dealt with 1,300 or so of the dislocated workers,” he said.