More than $6 million awarded to the Youth Services of Bryan County to help people get jobs

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) – More than $6 million have been awarded to the Youth Services of Bryan County, with hopes of strengthening the county’s workforce.

“We’ll plan to serve approximately 100 individuals to help them find sustainable careers,” YSBC Executive Director, Courtney Dukes said.

Located in Durant, the Youth Services may be one of best kept resources in Bryan County.

“We do individual counseling, family counseling. We provide some diversion and prevention programs for those youth that may have entered the juvenile justice system,” explained Dukes.

The ‘Work Ready Oklahoma’ contract has already seen success in Oklahoma City, and now the program is spreading to rural areas.

“Some of the workshop topics are effective interviewing skills, dress for success, problem solving. We’ll actually help them to create a professional resume that will really get employers attention,” said Work Ready Durant Program Director, Shawn Young.

“Anyone can go out and find a job, but to really be happy, you want to find a career. You want to find something that you love doing that you’re good at, that you excel at, because that’s really where success comes from,” she added.

The program can boost confidence for a stay at home mom returning to the workforce.

“What they don’t realize is that they’ve been problem solving for years, they’ve been budgeting for years. They have all of these skills that we use every day in the workforce,” Young stated.

Recruitment for the program begins in August.

Copyright 2024 KXII. All rights reserved.