BEDFORD – Jessica Terrell stood in front of a crowded room of people, some she knew and many she didn’t, to tell how she went from an addict and felon to a reliable, productive, and gainfully employed person.
She drove one hour from her home in Washington and took unpaid time off from work to tell graduates of a Lawrence County job skills program to keep their forward momentum going.
“I would not be here, living the life I am without the ILJAS program,” she said. Jessica Terrell
Introduction to Local Jobs and Skills is a three-week program of the Lawrence County Workforce Coalition. It equips participants with skills for careers in welding, machining, and construction. Participants are adults who are unemployed, underemployed, and justice-involved like Terrell. They learn hard skills and soft skills.
Thursday at the North Lawrence Career Center in Bedford, a class of 15 received their completion certificates, celebrated their success, and received encouragement from Terrell.
In 2020, she was released from Rockville Correctional Facility where she had served time for possession of methamphetamine.
The mother of four knew she had to turn her life around, but she worried about how she would be seen … “Who would hire me, a former drug addict?”
“I was scared, I didn’t know what to do,” she said.
Her probation officer at the Lawrence County Probation Department suggested she enroll in the ILJAS.
“I didn’t want any part of it, at first,” she said. “I thought I’d be judged for my past but I was wrong. Here in the program, I was a normal person. I wasn’t a felon, I wasn’t an addict. They treated me like a person and I learned how to interact with people again.”
The time she spent around Joe Timbrook, director of career development at the workforce coalition, and the instructors, who also are teachers at the NLCC, gave her the motivation to change. She went from a person who lacked self-confidence and a work ethic, to someone who enjoyed work and was dependable.
“The people they are, are who I wanted to become. They are happy, caring and have jobs,” she said.
Today, Terrell works at a Toyota plant in Lawrenceville, Illinois. She is engaged and recently celebrated four years of sobriety.
“I have a retirement plan,” she said proudly. “Never did I think I would have that.”
ILJAS is supported by Indiana University Health’s Community Impact Investment Fund and Duke Energy in partnership with the Career Center. Thursday’s class of 15 graduates was the largest to date. There have been 11 cohorts since the program began.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Sam Arp also spoke to the class, telling the students to keep learning, growing, and striving.
“Don’t let this be your crowning achievement, set your goals high,” he said.
Timbrook said all the students had plans in place to either begin jobs or enroll in additional job training.
Information: Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report.
