When Jennifer Inness found herself laid off during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lincoln’s American Job Center reached out to help.
The center exists to help job seekers get back to work, find a better job, change careers or enter the workforce for the first time.
“Before that, I didn’t know that the center even existed — who they were, what they did,” Inness said. “I wish I knew about it so much sooner. It’s an amazing resource that changed my life.”
The mother of two was placed in the center’s dislocated worker program, designed to help individuals affected by layoffs or closures find new positions and reenter the workforce.
As part of the federal program, under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the center offered her a three-month internship in its resource room, where she helped people navigate unemployment claims, create resumes, apply for jobs and more. The room also offers resources to direct Nebraskans to various partners for assistance with food, clothing and hygiene supplies.
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“Think about when you had one of your hardest days and amplify that weeks or months over,” Inness said. “You’re overwhelmed and feel like there’s no one there to help you. That’s what we’re there for.”
For Inness, that internship turned into a long-term job at the center. She meets with both participants and employers to help them get the most out of the program, often recruiting businesses for partnerships.
“A lot of employers don’t even know we exist,” Inness said. “They say to me, ‘This sounds like an amazing program, how have we never heard of it before?’ … It’s really getting the word out that we’re here."
In addition to the dislocated worker program, the American Job Center also provides career coaching programs for adults and youth, training programs and access to further education, all for free.
For 21-year-old David Lado, the center’s youth services helped him get a commercial driver’s license. They guided him through the process and helped support his financial needs.
Lado said the center helped him find a trucking school and paired him with a caseworker to set goals, such as obtaining a commercial learner's permit. The two met twice a week to make sure Lado was on schedule to graduate and hold him accountable to his goal.
“AJC is valuable because not everyone knows what they want to do as a career, or what they like to do,” Lado said. “But AJC is willing to help you with that, to make sure you succeed and find a career you like and fits your needs. Not many people can say they have people like AJC that will help … and cheer them on.”
Dylan Wren, the AJC’s workforce administrator, said the center sponsors a lot of work-based learning experiences, where it reimburses a local business up to 75% of an employee's wage to hire and teach them the job on-site.
“It's a great way to open a door for an individual that might have been overlooked based on not having any relevant education or experience,” Wren said.
In addition, AJC will also sponsor internships — paying an individual’s wage and fees — to lift the financial burden from the business and allow the individual to gain experience.
The center, which covers both Lancaster and Saunders counties, expanded its services in a new location at 1330 N St. on Jan. 11, with a grand opening celebration scheduled for Feb. 23.
“Lincoln has always been a place for hard-working people,” Wren said. “We’re excited to be able to better serve more people from a more visible and accessible location with expanded hours.”
Amber Knapp — project director of the adult, dislocated worker and youth programs — said the team designed the new center intentionally for accessibility and to best suit the needs of Nebraskans. The team conducted a study with Wichita State University to understand the customers’ needs, select the best location, and include the most important services.
“This is our best effort on what we think will serve our community,” Wren said. “I’ve been doing this for nine or 10 years now, and this is a really rare opportunity to build it from the ground up.”
The new center includes a children’s play area, a breastfeeding room, private phone booths for clients to make job-search calls and new conference rooms for clients to take interviews or meet with career planners.
The center was granted $1.5 million in American Rescue Act funds for the construction and partnered with Park & Go to cover the rest when the planning process began in 2020.
In 2021, the center served approximately 400 job seekers a month, reaching nearly 5,000 by the end of the year. The staff hopes the new location will allow even more Nebraskans to access and use the center’s services.
"A lot of times, people see the American Job Center and they don't know what it means,” Wren said. “They assume we're a temp hiring agency or something like that. And while we may fulfill some of the things that an agency like that does, this is really just for the benefit of our community and there’s no cost to the services."