In fact, spend any time at all listening to Long discuss the Jobs Partnership and it becomes clear that the name doesn t do it justice. It could just as easily be the Literacy Partnership, the Marriage Partnership or the Housing Partnership, since it equips those it serves to excel in these areas, too. No one is guaranteed a job, but the program s reputation has convinced companies to hire even the hardest cases when those men and women demonstrate a desire to change. What most business owners discover is that the risk is well worth taking. For a lot of them, this is the first time in their life they have confidence that they can do something, the first time in their life they want to do something.
Government has a role to play as well, although the size of that role varies.
Federal and state grants aren t necessary to run the classes the national office provides the curriculum at no charge and all sites and instruction time are donated. There are overhead and staff expenses, but many partnerships pay for those with small monthly gifts from member churches and businesses. That hardly means Jobs Partnership programs can t benefit from Bush s proposed expansion of grant opportunities for religious groups, though. And in Orlando, the Jobs Partnership of Florida, not yet two years old, continues to operate solely on funds from a state grant. As for the national office, its board of directors doesn t try to influence local boards to pursue or avoid government money.