Akron Urban League
A non-profit organization that helps people with prior convictions get jobs.
“Never ever judge a book by it’s cover” is the motto that program supervisor for the adult workforce development program, Toni Johnson has.
The Akron Urban League Located in Summit county is a non-profit agency there to help the community and its residents. “Our goal and our mission is to serve 80 clients in the Akron area and get 50% of those employed” says Johnson.
According to the Ohio Bureau of Labor statistics, 4.9 percent of Summit County residents are unemployed. Overall, the state of Ohio has a 4.6 percent unemployment rate and the Akron Urban League is working to bring that rate down.
“I do a lot of outreach, with the shelters, with the community, the court systems, law enforcement agencies you name it. You’d be amazed where you get clients from” says Johnson.
The Akron Urban League has various clients and some are returning citizens with prior convictions. “A lot of them have prior convictions, whether violent or non-violent we help those populations” says Johnson. “It’s more than just a job ratings training class…that’s part of it but it’s also about having people believe in themselves again”
Johnson says, “once they complete the class, they are assigned to employment recruiter who is already the trainer, they already built that relationship. His job is to build relationships with different companies in the city, agencies so when a client finishes class, we led them right into the job”.
The program is designed to help people get a job and maintain that job. But Johnson says it’s much more than just a job training class. “The clients may come in for the job training class development part but a lot of them are broken and a lot of them need nurturing and encouraging and support”.
The case manager for the career pathways program, Abby Billups says even though people usually come in for employment help, there also are different barriers that clients may come in with. “Sometimes they’re homeless and just going through a very rough patch”.
“Is to help them see not what they have done in the past but what they are from birth. They’re wonderful people” says Billups.
And Johnson believes that, “sometimes people make certain decisions at different times in their lives that may be going on and it could make them do crazy things, well they might not be that same person 5 or 10 years down the road so I believe in 2nd, 3rd, 4th chances”
And an Akron Urban League client who wished to rename nameless agrees with Johnson as well. “I say that it’s 2019 and a lot of people have pasts that they regret but it’s not always as bad as you think it is. You can overcome that. Most defiantly”.
This client sought out the Akron Urban League after overcoming a situation she was in. In her situation, she found it hard to get a job. “In the past when I didn’t have help with my resume and I was applying to places, I would never get calls back and that’s really disappointing”.
But now with help from Toni and Abby, this Akron mother is able to succeed. “if you have people behind you, supporting you…when you’re going for something, you’re going to succeed more”. Now this client is currently going on job interviews and has received offers from multiple places.
Before clients go on job interviews, they’re welcome to browse the Akron Urban League closet that has donations of suits, pants, jackets, blazers, shoes, ties, belts, and more. Johnson says that, “you’d be amazed how it makes a difference in a person’s life. When they dress different, they feel better”.
And Toni says this job is extremely rewarding but at first, “when I first started the position, I was kinda concerned about working with people with prior convictions, returning citizens and I’m like they’re not what people say they are”.
The Akron Urban League has classes every Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am. For more information, you can visit https://www.akronurbanleague.org/.
