'Real dreams and real possibilities'

OIC works to aid agriculture workers, area business with training, resources

MOSES LAKE — When a person goes into the Opportunities Industrialization Center of Washington, employment and training representative Janie Meza informs them they're going on an adventure.

She tells the nervous participant, "This is where we're starting, with your plan of what you want to do, what your dream is, what your goal is.

"All the way through this plan that we have put together, watching them grow and being there at the end of accomplishing their goal, it's very rewarding to watch them as they grow, through their whole process," Meza said. "A lot of times, I'll tell them, you're going to get upset, you're going to cry, you're going to get mad, you're going to do all of these things and that's OK, as long as the end of this adventure we're going to go on, you've accomplished your goal."

Meza said she tells the participant that she's just going to be there to help them along through the process.

"Once they get to the end, and they accomplish whatever the goal is, it's great to see them just light up, and say, 'Wow, I can't believe I did it, but I did,'" Meza said. "It's really neat to see a person get through that and then see them later on in the community, and they're just happy, thankful and providing for their families and doing what we all want to do. The Great American Dream, I guess you'd call it."

The OIC is a training and employment agency working with agriculture workers in Grant and Adams counties, and with local businesses.

In other offices throughout the state, the organization works with housing, high school completion and dislocated worker/low income adult training.

In Moses Lake, the training is primarily focused on agriculture workers, training they might need and training for businesses to update the skills of their workers.

"We have a special niche with the farm workers to provide them training and skill upgrade," said Jody Bortz, OIC regional manager. "It also assists the businesses and working with economic development councils and chambers to provide training to employees that otherwise might not have been able to get into their fields."

The OIC offers assistance to get into any kind of industry, Bortz said, noting that OIC is working with Big Bend Community College to provide welding classes and CDL training, as well as basic skills upgrades, GED and ESL. OIC can customize to the needs of job seekers and employers, she said.

Agriculture workers come in seeking training, in order to either find higher positions or work outside of the agriculture fields. Training can be through vocational classes or on-the-job training.

"We're hoping for regular, full-time, year-round employment, to upgrade the living standards of the entire family," Bortz said. "We work with the ag worker and all of their dependents as potential job seekers."

Seasonal, low income positions offer poor advancement opportunities.

"We're looking for skill upgrade so that their earning power is stronger, that we've increased their basic skills," Bortz explained, noting that in speaking with a local employer, there's not enough people with basic math or reading skills to move up from line or sanitation crews into labs. "If we can help those that want to leave that industry grow, then that opens more opportunities for others to enter, get more training and move up, as well."

Employers are expecting higher basic skills, creating fewer opportunities for those without those skills.

"Employers expect more if they have to pay more, and they expect people to be able to promote and move within the company," Bortz said.

When agriculture workers come in to the organization, OIC uses federal funds for career counseling to determine what occupation a person wants to have, and what they need in order to obtain that position. After they are enrolled in the OIC program, the organization can assist them in returning to school or employment, with the ultimate goal being year-round, full-time employment.

With businesses, OIC finds out what they need and how the organization can assist them with training, Bortz said, and can help recruit, train and screen applicants.

OIC has been located in Moses Lake for about six years, and in the state for 34 years. Over 100 job seekers are served per year by the Moses Lake office, with 900 individuals served statewide, and are referred by local agencies, businesses and word-of-mouth, Bortz said.

While in training, job seekers can also get assistance with special classes or tools required on the job. As more businesses find out about OIC, Bortz said, they can let the public know about the resources available.

To be eligible for the program, a person must be a seasonal agricultural worker with a low income and eligible to work in the United States. The program works with all nationalities.

"Primarily, they're coming out of the processing plants, the fields, working in hay and the crops," Bortz said. "They don't have to be migrant, but they do have to have faced chronic under- or unemployment, so they're individuals who maybe haven't had an opportunity to see any other type of occupation in their life than just working in the fields or the crops." A person could have been laid off or no longer able to do that sort of work, Bortz pointed out, or they could be a farm worker's dependents —spouses, children or other family members.

"If they can go back to work and get more skills, then the whole family can increase their living style," she said.

The OIC works to change people's lives, Bortz said.

"We really make an impact in taking people and helping them believe in themselves, and believe that they can earn more, do more, and then watching and seeing that grow, watching them complete their high school GED, start getting some skills, move up, even become managers, owners of themselves, and to know those are real dreams and real possibilities," she said. "We help make dreams come true."