Shady Grove struggles to bring awareness for employment services

Six months after Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church volunteered itself to help the West Grove’s unemployed find jobs, only a small group of residents has received help.

It’s not the outcome church leaders anticipated.

“This life is about helping others and that’s what we’re trying to do,” said Maggie Porcher, the church’s CEO. She and her family have been behind the idea to offer the church as an Access Point satellite site for the South Florida Workforce.

The organization’s mission is to provide outlets for those actively looking for employment by assisting with job applications and sponsoring resume workshops and mock interviews.

Porcher and her daughter, Chamara Porcher, and son, Anthony Porcher Jr. were all trained by the South Florida Workforce. The training prepared them to help members of the community with lengthy applications and provide moral support.

“We try to help them knock down their inner demons and build their confidence,” Porcher Jr. said.

“It’s easy to back out of the job application process, it’s tedious, but we’re here to help,” he added.

Shady Grove became involved with the organization when Maggie Porcher reached out to Rick Beasley, executive director of the South Florida Workforce, and offered the church as a satellite center.

“We had the space and wanted to do something for the community,” she said.

South Florida Workforce now has 12 satellite locations across Miami and has expanded to social media sites such as Facebook to ensure members of the community are aware of its services.

But as Porcher and her daughter look at the empty computers, they lament that the center is not frequented often enough.

“Other places have everything. We have very little,” said Maggie Porcher, who attributes the lack of community awareness to little funding and a low parishioner enrollment of about 20 people.

The church does not have its own pastor at the moment.

Instead, the Rev. Steven Caldwell, pastor at the Heart of God Ministry in South Miami, conducts Shady Grove’s services. He also is doing his part to create community awareness for the Access Point.

“I’m finding that new media needs to be implemented and that the Internet is the way to be seen,” he said.

The Heart of God Ministry has a website in the works, which will advertise the Workforce’s Access Point at Shady Grove, Rev. Caldwell said.

“It’s important for the West Grove community to just know the resources are there,” Chamara Porcher said.

Additionally, Porcher said she and her mother have gone knocking on doors and handed hundreds of flyers to the West Grove community to no avail.

“Things really slowed down around Christmas, but they never picked up,” she said.

Despite these setbacks, she estimates the center has helped 10 to 15 people ranging from young mothers to senior citizens obtain jobs, including two recently.

But Beasley doesn’t think low numbers are a problem for this Access Point.

“I’d honestly be more concerned if 25 people were showing up each day since it’s a smaller location,” he said.

In addition to sponsoring South Florida Workforce’s services, Shady Grove also organizes health fairs to provide HIV testing and sessions with credit counselors and accountants who help community members file their taxes.

“We try to provide a comfortable environment, like a home,” Chamara Porcher said.

The workforce’s satellite center is located at 117 Grand Ave. and is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.