Staying Power fuels JFS

Our agency recently launched a campaign to recognize those we lean on while helping nearly half a million Hamilton County residents every year.

Our 800+ employees work every day so many in this community can have better tomorrows. Among the work:

  • Protecting children and the elderly
  • Ensuring families have access to food and medical care
  • Helping parents find affordable, safe child care so they can go to work without worry
  • Assisting the unemployed with job searches and job training
  • Helping employers find a trained and skilled workforce
  • Facilitating child support payments to ensure a child’s basic needs are met

It’s not uncommon to meet someone who has worked for Hamilton County Job and Family Services for 20 years or more. In fact, we have 30 employees who have worked here for more than three decades each.

Our new campaign, Staying Power, highlights the employees who have been around awhile, from five to thirty years, or more. We ask them why they stay and make a career out of serving people, and we highlight their answers on our websites, in our social media and in other areas. We want them to receive recognition for their commitment to this agency and the community we serve.

I love reading their whys. Several are former clients who once needed our services and now want to help others. Here is what one employee said: “I believe in what I am doing, and it has a purpose and meaning. My work brings meaning and value to the agency. Our culture at Hamilton County Job & Family Services has a family atmosphere and being part of it is important to me. I don’t want to abandon my team because my role is important and valued. I believe we are all part of something special here and that everyone has a role in achieving the agency’s mission.”

We also ask them to tell us a fun fact about themselves. One employee said that her co-worked played matchmaker to her and her husband. That is the ultimate in working together!

This isn’t all we do to celebrate employees. We hand out quarterly ROCK STAR awards for those who excel. We have an annual Rally with a free lunch and entertainment. We host an annual ice cream social. We recently began celebrating those who hit employment milestones — 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 years on the job – with small parties.

We can never do enough. They invest so much in their work. Our agency has been a proud member of our community since 1947. We lean on our diverse group of employees, just as the community leans on us during troubled times. I am proud to say they have answered the call for 72 years and have made this community a better place to live. I am proud of our #stayingpower

by Jane Prendergast

Filed Under: From the Director

Tagged: adoption, child abuse, child care, child protection, Child Support, Child Welfare, Children's Services, Elder abuse, elder protection, food assistance, food stamps, foster care, hamilton county department of job and family services, hamilton county job and family services, job training, medicaid, moira weir, public assistance, unemployment, Workforce Development