CHERAW – The One Stop Workforce Center located at 318 Front St. and hosted by the Chesterfield-Marlboro Economic Opportunity Council (EOC), is shaping the lives of numerous people who are faced with the struggles of unemployment challenges today.

According to James Hillian, the manager of the One Stop Workforce Center in Cheraw, there are several solutions that can shed some light on the doom and gloom of unemployment and possibly help deter one’s situation.

“I think that we are one of the best-kept secrets in Cheraw because I think that a lot of people are not too much aware of all of the services we can provide as long as the funds are available,” said Hillian.

The Cheraw One Stop Workforce Center partnerships with other community agencies such as Chesterfield-Marlboro EOC, Northeastern Technical College (NETC), the S.C. Employment Security Commission (ESC) and Adult Education through the Chesterfield County School District. These agencies group together to provide a wide range of services to those who have a desire to improve his or her lifestyle and economic status. The Center’s main goal is to help increase one’s employment status, hourly pay or salary, and job readiness skill levels, train or retrain to acquire stable employment. It provides numerous employment and training Internet websites and offer local workshops such as Creating the Perfect Resume, Interviewing Skills, and Introduction to Computers.

“We average between 700-800 visitors at our Cheraw location a month. We not only help with unemployment but also with other legitimate needs through our Community Services Block Grant,” said Hillian.

According to Hillian and Chesterfield-Marlboro EOC Director Samuel Bass, there are additional in-house programs such as Liheap (Heat program), Head Start, and an Energy (Weatherization) program that are made available through the Chesterfield-Marlboro EOC as well. He continued, “One of the most important things is helping our clients search for a career in his or her field of interest, which can be done through our job search website such as www.scjoblink.org. If a client finds something he or she is interested in doing or wants to make a career change, then we can address that as well,” he said. “Hillian stressed, “What is the One Stop? You could say that it is a “one stop” shop for improving your education and life skills. We guide you to learning how to train for a new career or retrain for an existing career right here at the center.”

Hillian said that certain criteria must be met in order for clients to qualify for classes or employment. “The first step is to come into the center and register. Orientations are also given each week at the Center to give those who registered an opportunity to learn how to seek employment or classes to fit their needs.”

Resource Manager Donald Rankin said, “We just had an orientation on July 16. There will be another one Aug. 22. We not only teach people how to job search, but we also can send them to an employer for an interview and/or pay for his or her schooling, providing the funds are available.”

According to www.peedeewib.org, the Pee Dee Workforce Investment Board (WIB) is a volunteer group of citizens from business, labor, education and community organizations dedicated to creating a world-class workforce development system in Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion and Marlboro Counties. Through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), One Stop Workforce Centers are able to provide jobseekers the resources and training necessary for employment. There are seven One Stop Workforce Centers in the Pee Dee and citizens can access computer resource rooms in three separate locations.

“We have different funding cycles for various programs. WIA funds are distributed to local area Workforce Investment Boards’ One Stop centers through the Department of Commerce. The Workforce Investment Board (WIB) provides the contracts for our facilities,” said Hillian.

In conclusion, Hillian said that he hopes all of the One Stop Workforce Centers will focus more on “green jobs”.

“It seems that going green is the way of the future and we hope that some industries will take an interest in our area in the future that would offer opportunities in environmental, recycling and alternative energy careers.

For more information or to register at the Cheraw One Stop Workforce Center, contact James Hillian at 843-320-9760. To learn more about other One Stop Workforce Centers locations within the Pee Dee, visit www.sces.org.