By Nyesha Stone
Eloise Anderson (Picture provided by MTJC)
Milwaukee used to be an industrial city that provided family wages to the Black community, when our family members migrated here from the South. People came here for a better life where they could raise a family and receive good benefits, but oh how times changed.
Most of the Black community don’t have access to jobs for a multitude of reasons, including a high incarceration rate specifically targeted at our Black men. Our Black men are being put into prisons every single day, but are not given the tools nor the resources to successfully reenter society.
Milwaukee Transitional Jobs Collaborative (MTJC) is bridging that gap. MTJC is a community effort designed to bring more transitional jobs to Milwaukee, and the rest of the state. It’s a collation comprised of 30 area agencies and organizations. It was created to monitor Wisconsin Transitional Jobs program effectiveness in the city and is made up of state and local administrators, employment agencies, community organizations, faith groups, and policy researchers.
According to MTJC, transitional jobs are short term subsidized jobs aimed at getting marginalized workers—such as Black men reentering back into the workforce after release—into the workforce.
And, to show how effective transitional jobs are, MTJC hosted A Celebration of Transitional Jobs, in which they honored Eloise Anderson, Secretary of the State Department of Children and Families.
According to a press release, “Anderson’s department administered the Wisconsin Transitional Jobs programs since their inception in 2010 and she has been a steadfast champion.”
“In our society, if you don’t work, you don’t have any standing,” Anderson said about the importance of transitional jobs.
Transitional jobs give individuals who usually wouldn’t have the chance at a job the opportunity to gain good work experience while receiving pay, which will hopefully lead to a permanent job.
The celebration also recognized the agencies that have recruited the employees and the employers that have mentored the employees during and after their employment including: UMOS, Milwaukee Urban League, Silver Spring Neighborhood Center, Northcott Neighborhood House, YWCA Southeast Wisconsin, Milwaukee Careers Cooperative, Employ Milwaukee, Goodwill Industries of Southeast Wisconsin, and the City of Milwaukee.
To learn more Milwaukee Transitional Jobs Collaborative visit https://ppi.communityadvocates.net/