rai ing for e�ploy
e .challen e!!
By Alfred W .
Dan Ogle by, director of the e-
gon Opportunitie Indu rial Center
(OIC) challenges the uskegon . employ­
ment and training community to
effectively addre the pecial need of
the economically di dvant ged and the
structurally unemployed.
• Ogle by stated, "In an era when em­
ployment and trainin options are chang­
in due to pre ure of a highly techni-
and communication oriented society,
to 10 chi ver e n h hi motivation
good t itude and illingne to rn
i cl ified unemployable, They are
t ated at b t with to en con . deration."
Hi torically 01 foun er and chair­
m , Dr. Leon Howard Sullivan, en­
. ioned tr 'run organization ·which
ou d by de ign teach ill to the un-
illed provide learning opportunitie
d emp oyment to the unemployed.
J.P.T.A. TH ATE S
, Under C.E.T.A. OIC flouri hed and
grew the lar est networ of com­
munity b d employment and training
organizations in the odd.
Unfortun tely ho rOle tenet
. thre ten d by the Job Training Part­
nership ct. (J.T .P.A.).
This act is designed to encourage the
invol ment of Private Indu ry in
partnership ith tr ditional educational
in titution as the major deliverer of
rvice to the joble OIC, Urban League
nd similar community-ba ed organiza­
tion ar con idered non-traditional edu-
EXT
WEEK
ent-
Oglesby welcome the Private In stry
participation but expr reserv tion
to th ability of institutions de . gned
to educate, adjusting to the responsi­
bility of producing an employable end
product.
Oglesby further commented that edu­
cation d employment training are
not alway synonomus. He noted that
J.T .P.A.' an entirely new ball game,
although the legislative intent is to
create a firm commitment to reducing
the problem of the long term unem­
ploy d, (welfare recipients etc.), evalua­
tion criteria forces communiti to
rve the short term easily employable,
disp ced worker to the exclusion of
tho who are in need of intensive re­
mediation and require maximwn up­
portiv efforts.
�sby agree that the displaced
worker ould ha transitional support
but worries that the emphasi of J .P.T .A.
on nwnbers oppo to qualitative
productively incre s the tendency to
lect the cream of the crop.
Ea group has special needs, says
Ogle by and there must be a true com­
mitment to each group. Oglesby has
great re pect for the area' colle and
condary institutions, but caution d that
there must be a meeting of the mends to
define clientele, institutional purpo
nd emphases.
Oglesby spoke of the cooperative
training coordinaton between uskegon
OIC and the Mu egon Busine College.
The OIC Data Proce sing feeder
program 0 s with marginal D.P.
udents who display ability. 0 tare
high chool drop-out , welfare recipients
and or minoritie who here-to-before
may not have considered Data Proces ing
a Voe tional option. Students receiv
inten ive individualized instruction and
re then refered to Muskegon Busine
College Data Processing Program for
advanced placement in their program.
Students who complete the college
program are b quently placed into
jobs.
Oglesby feels this is a good example
of cooperation and organization doing
what they do best.
Muskegon's OIC is now looking to­
ward the operation of a local Learning
Opportunity Center (L.O.C.) scheduled
for July 1. The L.O.C. is a pilot program
of computer as i ted training.
The project was upported by OIC
Am rica Ford Foundation, u egon
County Community Foundation, the
Remediation and Training Institute of
ashington,' D.C. and the uskegon
County Department of Employment and
Training.
This is a one-of-a- ind operation and
Oglesby expects the effie' enc of the
client asse ment and remedial education
ctivitie to be remarkably improved.
The uskegon OIC is located at 201
Apple A enue.
Interested per ons volunteers and
community-at-larg are encoura ed to
visit an organization which exerci
its motto, Helping People to Help Them­
lves."
PAGE SEVE
Caucus;
By AlfRdW ..
Six Mu egon area ClVlC organiza­
tion are participating in a co-operative
ction to develope the political po r
of the areas Black communities.
This is a first effort of this kind in
our Muskegon are. Th participating
organizations are Elks Lodge o. 11 ,
Banks Lodge o. 11 TL. 35Ons,
AACP, Eastern Star, Harriet J. Cole
Lodge o. 12, the uskegon Chapter
A. Phillip Randolph Institute and the
Black omen' Political Caucu .
The first project wa a drive to register
ne voters. Thirteen per ons were
deputized in u egon and four persons
in uskegon Heights.
These deputy city clerks can register
persons in their homes enabling residents
.. to register to vote, mor conveniently.
The repre entative of the organiza­
tion participating in this co-op rative
Progr
m
u
On July 28 19 2 an in p ction of th
uskegon County Jail conducted
by th Department of Correction. Two
are s of non-compliance were found
over population of the County Jail and
the insufficient supervision available
for inmate activities.
ancy J. Ashford inmate program
coordinator has developed a plan to
addre tho violations.
shford said there are four purposes
of the program:
-To provide a valid alternative to the
traditional jail sy tern.
-To retain community rapport.
-To preserve order and public peace.
-To prepare participants to become
functioning citizens of the community
and taxpayers.
In 1982 A hf rd said a ituation of
overcrowding existed at th u egon
County Jail. The inmate populati n had
increa d 770/£ over five year. In June of
1978 th Mu kegon County Jail held an
average of 114 inmates comp red to an
av ra e of 202 in arch of 19 3. Th
jail has a maximum c pacity of 187
inm tes. "In order to affect a change
in the jail population a coordinated
effort must be set forth. The dev lop-
effort named themselve the Committee
for V(\ten Participation. Mr. Bobby
cCowan, Co-ordinator for the com­
mittee, reported at a meeting June 9 at
Peck Street Bar-Be-Cue Restaurant that
the group had rege tered another 50
person b tween ay 29th and Jun 4.
The Committee turned it attention
a a follow up to the registering of new
voters to a concentrated effort to get
the voters out to vote on June 11, parti­
cularly in the City of us egon.
. Walter Gardner reported that a
voters registration site has been e abli h­
ed at the Elks Charity Lodge building
located on estern Avenue b tween
Fifth and Sixth treets.
Bobby cCowan tated that other
organization and clubs are invited to
contact him and to nd their repre nta­
tive to the next meeting.
ment of an umbrella organization - In­
m te Program would minimize th jail
population in anorderly and ccount­
able f hion," she id.
She set out to do ju t that, developing
pro rarns that would accompli h the
objective:
-To con olidate the various release
and ork programs for minimum curity
inmate ; thereby, reducing th jail popu­
lation.
- To develop prospective work sites
within county government and 10caJ
municipalities.
-To provide meaningful wor ex­
perience to program participants.
-To monitor the e and other pro­
gram which would addres similar
problems ociated with the criminal
justice system.
-To devi e a comprehen ive data
ystem.
- To monitor inmate activities to
di c urage the us and smuggling of
contraband.
-To se regate inmate participants
from the general jail population.
The various programs develop d will
be dealth with in succeeding i ues of
The Citizen.