LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — For the first time, Goodwill's Ignite 2.0 program partnered with ONE Lexington to get young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who have a criminal history on a new path to success.
Hannah Said, Ignite’s program coordinator, says, "We help reduce barriers to employment and education by giving them case management services. We can provide financial assistance for housing, transportation, utility bills -- anything that stands in the way of them being successful."
Ignite also partners with Bluegrass Community and Technical College to help young people get a free trade school credential. The event also allows employers to learn more about second-chance hiring.
Said says, "We are always also looking for employment partners that can come give our clients an opportunity to work -- so, if you need employees, we've got plenty."
Around 20 different community partners are ready to speak with young adults about education and employment. ONE Lexington’s director, Devine Carama says that it takes the community coming together like this to make a change.
He says, "I think we're eliminating that stigma. A lot of people come up in conditions, there's generational trauma that they're dealing with that leads to certain choices that they make that may send them down the wrong path. And so, they just need a second chance, they need an opportunity."
Carama explains that young people who are ready to get back into the community can feel like outcasts after being in the system. Without opportunities like this, he says they may feel their choices are limited.
He says, "So, you leave them no choice but to go back maybe to a life that led them into the situation that they're in. So, we've got to disrupt that cycle, we've got to support these individuals who are coming home and trying to do better."
Said, says she wants people to know that Lexington’s community wants them to succeed.
She shares, "Mentally, physically, financially -- we are there to help and support and back them up while they follow their own path. So, I just want them to know that. That we're out here, we care, and we're ready to help."
Carama says that they hope to have more events and be able to go into the communities that would benefit from them the most. For more information on Goodwill's Ignite program - you can visit www.goodwillky.org.
