FirstEnergy : SW Resources Gains Traction with Workforce Development Program

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When Aaron Lutz moved back to Parkersburg, West Virginia, from Ohio last fall, he was recovering from substance use disorder and looking to reenter the workforce. Having grown up in the area, he was familiar with SW Resources, a local nonprofit that provides vocational training and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Founded in 1964, SW Resources has built up a healthy roster of business clients, some of them household names, that turn to the organization for a variety of services, from printing and graphics to warehouse and production solutions.

Lutz, 31, applied for a spot with the organization's training and employment program and now works with an SW Resources mobile janitorial crew that serves several office buildings in the region.

'They offer accountability, and the directors are kind and genuinely care,' he says, adding that SW Resources provides references and an avenue to mainstream job opportunities that might not otherwise be available for someone with his background. 'It's a miracle that it exists, really.'

SW Resources has more than 200 employees who support seven different business lines at its 49,000-square-foot facility, and over the past year it has worked to develop a more structured 16-week program for individuals with substance use disorder. The need for such training programs is reflected in the increase of state-licensed treatment beds for substance use in Wood County, says Randall Siers, Executive Director of SW Resources. That number has grown from 30 beds five years ago to 283 today.

'We absolutely believe that the best way to keep someone on the correct path is building their self-esteem through work,' he says.

In December 2020, SW Resources was awarded $35,000 from the FirstEnergy Foundation as part of its 'Investing with Purpose' initiative, which is focused on supporting organizations that advance health and safety, workforce development, educational and social justice initiatives. The grant, part of more than $3.4 million donated by FirstEnergy to nearly 100 organizations across its six-state footprint, will help fund the wages SW Resources pays out to the 50 individuals expected to enroll in the substance use disorder program over the course of this year.

The program consists of a group of 13 participants who spend 16 weeks rotating through the organization's various business lines, learning how to operate a warehouse forklift, for example, or handle online order fulfillments for a client. During their time in the program, participants also take life skill classes that cover job interviewing, resume writing, financial literacy, workplace behavior, conflict resolution and more.

Participants in the program are guaranteed 40 hours of work each week, even if some of those hours are spent in the classroom, Siers says.

For Kelly Crawford, who was referred to SW Resources by a sober living facility in December, the program has been transformative. Crawford, 31, will be leaving SW Resources this month for a full-time production job with one of the area's largest employers and is moving into her own apartment.

'I definitely wouldn't have made it to where I am without this place,' she says. 'They've helped me come so far in such a short amount of time.'

Siers says that stories like Crawford's are energizing for the SW Resources staff and for the individuals in the program, who are working toward job placements of their own.

'We're confident that there's going to be a higher chance of success because of the process that we go through,' he says. 'The excitement of that is what keeps you going--that somebody is competitively placed in a job with a living wage and will experience financial independence, maybe for the first time in their life.'