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Ask the Experts: NonProfits Help Employees with Life Skills
Mike Coonrod, sbjLive Producer

Ask the Experts: Nonprofits Help Employees with Life Skills

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Tom Faulkner, director of Crosslines, says it’s critical for businesses to utilize services from local nonprofits to help impoverished workers. Faulkner says by partnering with a nonprofit to teach life skills like managing finances, it provides a win-win. The business can retain an employee who can now better manage their money. This is sponsored content.

Duration: 2:16

Video transcription:

- So today Tom, we're talking about businesses and how poverty can really affect workforce development. And I know that there's one in four people in the Springfield area that is in poverty but I wanna take off the table that businesses need to only think about paying their employees more or that is the answer. Let's talk about some other ways that businesses can really help offset poverty.

- So, I'm thinking first off about businesses just plugging in to area non-profits to get resources, I can think of a story that we helped a local business with. They had a young lady that was an employee there and she was struggling financially and the business owner had continued to help her financially until it got to be a problem. And so, the business owner eventually reached out to us and said, "I want to help this person, "but I want to do that through you". So they provided some finding of resources for us to be able to help the person so that that individual didn't think that it was okay to continue to come back to the employer. At that time we we're able to help with some budgeting skills, some other life skills, help with some dept reduction issues that they were having, and that employee ultimately went back and became a stronger employee. They were already a great employee that's why that employer did not want to lose them.

- I absolutely love that because it was a win win for that business. They were able to retain that great employee plus now she has a life skill that whether she stays there or moves on, she will always be able to use that life skill. And so, I know that we see a lot of people that that's part of the reason they're in poverty, isn't always how much money they're bringing in but because maybe they're lacking some kind of life skill that they didn't get when they were growing up.

- Sure and that's where we can have our employers look at what's going on with employees as they're coming into work. Often times they're talking about different events that are going on in their life and if they hear something where the employer can reach out to us or another non-profit that specializes in that, we'll be glad to work with. That's what we're in the business for, is helping people.

- And so, keeping your ears open for those warning signs with your employees is what you're saying?

- Exactly.

- Absolutely. Well thank you so much, Tom.

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