SkillUP
SkillUP engages SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) recipients in education and training to pursue long-term employment in a career pathway in demand and provide good wages.
Seven of Missouri's community and technical colleges participate in this program to provide education and training to SNAP participants. Each college has a range of programs available to participants and will guide them in choosing a pathway based on interviews and testing.
The SkillUP grant is administered by the Missouri Department of Social Services, Family Support Division and funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Missouri Community College Association acts as the program administrator for Missouri's 9 community and technical colleges.
The SkillUP program can help participants:
- Learn needed skills through workshops and classes
- Pay for short-term training and certifications
- Pay for some daycare, work, or training costs
- Update or create resumes to showcase skills to employers
- Connect with employers
Success Stories
A potential participant showed interest in ECC’s Microsoft Office Suite program. Upon completion of the assessment, it was clear this participant had the desire to succeed but there were barriers holding her back from success. She was enrolled in the program and a significant amount of time was spent identifying resources that could help her and address some severe test anxiety issues. This participant was also in a domestic violence situation, so a local counselor intervened to assist her in gaining the skills and confidence needed to remove herself from the situation. We worked with her to build a resume so she could find a job that supported her and her children. The participant completed one certification and decided to enroll in college full time. She is now working on an Associate’s Degree in business.
Amy Mattingly’s plans are simple. Keep fighting and keep moving forward.
She says it was the SkillUP program offered through Metropolitan Community College that helped give her momentum.
Mattingly, 36, is an overcomer. She says she has survived physical and sexual abuse. She lost both of her parents and is raising three children on her own. She was nearing the end of her rope and knew something had to change.
“Find me anything,” she told a social worker. “I can’t stay where I’m at. I don’t know what to do. Somebody needs to help me. I need to fight.”
And the social worker put her in touch with the SkillUP program.
SkillUP educates and trains recipients of SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program), sometimes referred to as food stamps. The goal of the free SkillUP program is to teach participants the skills to find a long-term job that pays good wages.
All of Missouri’s 13 community and technical colleges are part of the program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture funds a grant for SkillUP and the Missouri Department of Social Services oversees it.
Mattingly hopes to inspire others to make life-changing choices.
At MCC, the noncredit workforce program trains future certified nurse assistants, pharmacy technicians, phlebotomy technicians and commercial truck drivers, among other fields. Coursework takes a year or less.
Mattingly became a certified nurse assistant in March. She says it was a hard road that brought her to SkillUP, but she didn’t want to give up on herself.
“No matter what you go through, good or bad . . . break those walls down. Have fun living your life no matter how hard it gets,” she says.
Mattingly says she depended on SkillUP’s navigators at MCC.
Navigators Valencia Broadus, Sandy Snook and Eunice Terry are both cheerleaders and guides. They direct and help students through the program. They provide a listening ear and assist the students in finding the help and support they need while they are in class. They also keep in touch, making sure participants find work after graduation.
“The navigator role is to do whatever they need to do to get students to the right place,” says Jeanne Schmidt, MCC continuing education workforce coordinator. She says they provide the human touch students need to be successful in the program.
SkillUP “provides them hope and a future where they may have thought they didn’t have one,” Schmidt says.
Mattingly now spreads that message of hope to others entering the SkillUP program. She shares her story during orientation. “It’s never too late,” she says. “If I can do it, they can do it.”
During a recent orientation, Mattingly made a point to address each participant in the room, giving them a positive message filled with hope.
“If you need help, ask for help,” she told them. “And don’t stop until you find the right people.”
Schmidt describes Mattingly as “super enthusiastic” and “amazing”: “She took advantage of the opportunity.”
Schmidt is working to help others find the success Mattingly found. She says the goal is to have 70 people complete the SkillUP program every year.
The program is funded through September, but Schmidt expects more money to be added to keep it running through summer and fall of 2020.
SNAP recipients interested in receiving SkillUP training can apply any time. Call 816.604.1000. “Some people make a really quick life change,” Schmidt says.
As far as her own life changes, Mattingly says she’s not through. She plans to become a medical technician. She wants to be an inspiration for her children and others. No matter what, she says, “I’ll keep going.”
Jonathan was referred to SkillUP by MTC, the truck driver training program contractor at Mineral Area College. Jonathan had previously worked at a local manufacturing company – working swing shifts, with average wages. His goal was to increase his income to better support his family by becoming a Team Driver doing cross-country hauling. He completed the program and obtained his CDL license, with two job offers upon completion. He is scheduled to begin his new employment with Gilster – Mary Lee based out of Perryville, MO. He will earn $450/week for the first 4 weeks while completing their new hire program. He will then earn $0.28/mile as a Team Driver.
I found myself with only retail sales skills in an economy that has changed and made it harder to make money with that skillset. I realized I needed new career skills since I wasn’t making ends meet and needed constant help in the form of government aid such as food stamps. I didn’t have any money saved to pay for an education program, previously I had medical issues that were caused by cancer and depleted all my funds. Then I found out about the SkillUp program from a family member who saw a news report about it on television.
I was skeptical about it when calling for information, but the receptionist was very helpful and let me know that these classes would train for jobs that were in high demand. I looked over what was offered and decided on the CMA course due to the diversity of the skillset. It was amazing that I qualified for no charge to take this. I can’t thank those who are responsible for that fact enough.
When I began class I was worried about my ability to learn this very new subject. Again I had only been in retail sales environments and it was really all I knew. The instructor was very knowledgeable in the medical field which helped greatly with my success in the class. It started with medical terminology and then built from there. Online tools and hands on experience helped to teach and retain the information as well. When I went in I expected to learn a new career but I really never expected to find a job that I enjoy doing this much.
At the end of the course, two hundred hours in a clinic are required. In my first two weeks of this, I knew without a doubt this was the career for me. At the end of the hours, I applied and was immediately hired into internal medicine at Ferrell Duncan clinic. I enjoy getting to help people now on a daily basis. I feel I have become respected once again by my friends and family. I have a steady paycheck and job security and no longer have to ask for government aid or help from family members to get by. This program made a huge difference in my life and I am very thankful I got to be a part of it.
As a recently single mom of 4, I was struggling to find help for my family. I happened to see on the news that OTC was offering this program to help further the education of those that need it. They offered a variety of courses but I chose to go through the CMA program because I knew I’d learn a variety of skills. The class was very hands on and we learned so many new things that we can actually use in the real world. I learned about working on the administrative side of the clinic, along with insurance and how to deal with upset patients, my clinical duties and how to educate patients among other things. During my clinical hours, I was placed in several different departments and got to experience so much that I never could have without the Skill Up program. Within a year I was done with classes, clinicals, and have gotten hired on at a great medical office. I love what I do now and without this program I don’t think I’d be able to work with the prices of childcare. This has really been the hand up that I was looking for.
Dylan was on SNAP benefits and Greg was homeless and in 4 weeks these students completed State Fair Community College Commercial Driving Academy training program achieving their Class A CDL license and getting a job on the same day. They are both employed making excellent money.
Greg is now working for a trucking company in Boonville. Greg entered the program homeless. On the day he got his CDL license, he had a job with Potter Transport in Boonville and his grossing $1400 per week.
Dylan got a job with Stanley Black & Decker and within three weeks of being with SBD he changed their safety protocol and record-keeping with their trucks. Within 7 weeks of beginning the CDL program, he has become an income earner, provider of health insurance for his two-year old son, a taxpayer and is improving truck safety on the public traveled highways.
Spend mere seconds in Johnathan Hatcher Jr.’s presence, and you’ll have a hard time envisioning his bright, effervescent personality detained for a decade within the confines of prison. Many people would abandon their ambitions or lose hope and emotionally crumble under those conditions, but not Hatcher.
“I’m always just an optimistic, open type,” Hatcher proclaimed. “My life has already had so many trials and tribulations and adversities to where I just always try to be positive and upbeat. I feel like I’m here to be the change that I want to see instead of just complain about things.”
That mentality combined with his irrepressible willpower has helped Hatcher endure hardships early in life and overcome the consequences of choices that landed him in prison—choices that could have curbed his ability to provide for himself or a family, never mind establish a promising career. But his positive attitude and persistence seem to be paying off.
Hatcher graduated in July 2018 from St. Louis Community College’s CDL-A Professional Truck Driving program, a 200-hour commercial driver’s license (CDL) program that prepares participants to enter the commercial driving industry as an over-the-road or local truck driver. Since 2015, the truck driving program’s comprehensive curriculum and hands-on training has provided students with the knowledge and skills to enter this growing field.
Commercial driving first caught Hatcher’s interest as a viable career path while he was incarcerated.
“I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Hatcher said about his decision to obtain a CDL. “It’s felon-friendly, for one. For two, it’s a career that’s in strong need. They need ninety-thousand truck drivers in America, and the fact of the matter is I can take that [license] anywhere. Not just in America, I can take it anywhere.”
He grins, adding, “And me being locked up for ten years, you have to understand, I do have traveling on my mind.”
A self-proclaimed lifelong learner, Hatcher has always believed in the power of education to enable an individual to rise above any situation. Prior to his felony, Hatcher was drawn to biology, intrigued by his exposure to science in the countless hours he spent in healthcare facilities as a child accompanying his mother as they sought essential care for his younger brother’s medical conditions.
“My little brother, my only sibling, he’s twenty-seven-years old now with the mind of a six-month-old,” Hatcher said. “He has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, seizures. So, we spent a lot of time—the majority of my childhood—just in and out of hospitals.”
Hatcher’s deep love of knowledge that took root in his youth benefited many of his fellow inmates when he assumed a role as an instructor for General Education Development (GED) tests while in a maximum-security correctional center in Jefferson City, Missouri. His efforts proved quite fruitful; his students had a 98% graduation rate.
“I tutored for two years, and I fell in love with teaching. I enjoyed it,” Hatcher said. “I was in a level-five prison with people who are there for the rest of their lives. They’re never getting out. School is voluntary, and we are the teachers. Inmates are teaching inmates. I had the personal satisfaction of seeing those individuals try to strive for something so great. It makes you stay on top of your game seeing them push so hard in that situation. They’re doing this for them and their own betterment and peace of mind.”
Witnessing the accomplishments of his students inspired Hatcher to stay focused on his own future as well.
“While they were taking tests, that’s when I opened up my first CDL manual in 2009,” Hatcher said. “I’ve got to be quiet so I’m just in there studying the CDL manual, reading as much as I could, and I always had it in my mind that once I got out I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”
He wasted no time putting his plan into action when he was released from prison on March 16, 2018. Hatcher first needed to find a funding source, and his research led him to the job center for the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE). After exploring a few options and facing an initial funding setback, he was put in touch with Ambrosia Harrison from STLCC’s SkillUP program. The SkillUP program assists Missouri food stamp recipients who desire training or support to become employed or to improve their current employment situation. From there, the pieces began to fall into place.
“I got in touch with Ambrosia and Bahi [Talundzic] from the CDL program. I think I met with them once or twice, and everything was just beautiful,” Hatcher said. “The start of school, the schedule—everything just flowed smoothly. It was what I was waiting on. I was working hard, just grinding and grinding. I needed that big break.”
Hatcher’s persistence got him a seat in the class, but his optimistic mindset and steadfast work ethic were key to his success in the truck driving program. CDL students rotate through a rigorous combination of classroom instruction, driving simulator time and 45 hours of driving, exceeding the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) proposed minimum standards for training tractor trailer drivers. Graduates enter the field with the knowledge and confidence they need to safely, expertly manage such sizable vehicles.
“It’s five weeks, forty hours a week, so it’s like a full-time job,” Hatcher stated. “But I loved it because St. Louis Community College’s program was so amazing. We were there eight hours a day, so I got a lot of over-the-road, hands-on experience. I think if you’re going to send someone out there with a piece of eighty-thousand-pound equipment, you need to make sure they have the safety procedures down and they know what they’re doing.”
The students developed a deep bond, encouraging each other and pushing one another to succeed. Two of the participants in Hatcher’s class already had some exposure to commercial driving and were able to share insights with the students new to the industry.
“That worked out so well. With them having experience riding on tractors, being on farm equipment, dump trucks and everything, they could really help us out,” Hatcher said.
Peer-to-peer knowledge sharing is just one of the many powerful ways truck driving program students learn the trade. Instruction is delivered by a team of facilitators with a broad spectrum of experience, which allows the students to gain insights about the commercial driving industry from a wide variety of viewpoints. Hatcher reaped tremendous value learning from diesel mechanics, local drivers for private corporations, and drivers who worked in global training yards.
“It was amazing because you got different perspectives from everyone about where you could go in the field,” he said. “It was beautiful for me, from an experience standpoint. [You could] ask all your questions and get hands-on experience and a full understanding of everything.”
STLCC not only sets CDL students up to succeed in obtaining a commercial driver’s license, but in finding a pathway to employment. One of the greatest advantages for truck driving program participants is the expansive group of prospective employers eager to meet them while they are still in training.
“We had different recruiters come up and buy us lunch and just talk to us,” Hatcher said. “That’s networking. You’re already out there making contacts before you even get your CDL license. You have forty-five emails from people, and job offers. It is amazing.”
Beyond the invaluable resources offered by the College, Hatcher relied heavily on the support of his family to achieve success in the program.
“You have to think, I just got out of prison after ten years so I’m starting from nothing at all,” he said. “Luckily, I had family and support taking me back and forth to help me out to get me to the places I’m going and helping with the paperwork process. It was invaluable. A support system is so important, I think, for anybody from any walk of life. Especially when it’s positive support. Someone who wants to see you grow and aspire to your full potential. But even more so coming from my situation, coming from prison.”
Hatcher also admitted that, regardless of the backing participants receive from the College and their personal support systems, students need to dig deep within themselves and tap into their own perseverance to get through.
“[It requires] dedication above anything,” he said. “You have to be ambitious. You have to be dedicated. You have to be focused.”
For Hatcher, graduation was a much-needed symbol of his ability to start fresh, an opportunity to rise above a dark shadow in his past and get back on track to live the life he had dreamed of for so many years.
“[Graduating] felt amazing because being gone and away from society for that long, to get that license, to graduate from the program, it felt like I was doing the right thing. I loved it,” he said. “The SkillUP program and St. Louis Community College were the launching pad. Wherever I go from here, that was ground zero. That was my starting point. They’re not only giving you the funding for school but they’re handing you a whole career. I’ll be forever grateful.”
After he graduated, Hatcher wanted to find a job that aligned with the work-life balance he craved. He had already spent a significant time away in prison, so he was eager to land an opportunity that did not require a lot of long-distance driving.
“I’m so family oriented and I’ve been gone for a decade,” he said. “I felt like, I’ve got my license and this career’s going to be here forever. Whenever I decide to go on the road, if money gets tight and I need to go, I can go.”
Fortunately, an opportunity arose for him at a rather interesting time, with a rather interesting interview process. He received a phone call from the owner of a local, privately-owned distribution company on a Friday afternoon while washing clothes in a laundromat.
“He called me and said, ‘I saw your resume on ziprecruiter.com and I was just trying to schedule an appointment to see if we could do an interview,” Hatcher said.
The two went back-and-forth trying to arrange a time to meet over the weekend, but both had family obligations preventing them from doing so.
“I told him, ‘I’m sure you want to go to church and stuff Sunday so let’s just shoot for Monday morning. And he said, ‘You know what? I like the way you talk. Want to start Monday?’ Right over the phone. And that’s who I work for,” Hatcher smiled. “Amazing. Karma. Life is beautiful.”
Hatcher’s life has taken an extraordinary turn and he has tangible evidence to show for it. In less than a year after his release from prison, he has a new fiancé, a running start on a promising career path, and he recently closed on a beautiful home that he was able to fully furnish with his earnings.
“I went from $8.50 a month to a guaranteed $20 an hour. Guaranteed. If I’m in my profession, and I’m working local, I’m guaranteed at least $20 an hour. That’s amazing!” he said. “Just to be able to live the lifestyle I’ve been waiting to live and just enjoy the fruits of my labor, to have that [home] environment, I’m just so grateful. I’ve been thinking about it and dreaming about it for so long. It’s been a blessing. My life is amazing.”
On the horizon for Hatcher is a wedding, plans for recreational travel once his supervision period expires in the fall, and a full, grateful life, soaking up simple pleasures and trying to make a difference in the world.
“What’s crazy is people would think you get out of prison and party, make up for lost time, but I just want to barbecue. Be with my family. Just the simple things, to be able to take a shower after work, lay down in bed and watch the game,” he said. “That’s why I’m so happy. I’m at peace. It’s beautiful to me. People get blindsided by so many material things that we don’t appreciate the world around us. Life is so short, and you can’t take any of that with you. None of that matters.”
Hatcher’s story is one of overcoming—of mentally rising above the barriers, capitalizing on opportunities and digging deep to persevere. His past offense may limit some of his future career options, but his spirit and ambition cannot be contained. He realizes the gravity of his offense and has paid the price for his mistake, but now he intends to press forward, work tirelessly to chart a new course for the future, and spread some hope along the way.
“I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. I was there [in prison] for a reason. I needed to learn the lessons I learned, and I came out here and basically, the only thing I ever really, truly pray for is for God to show me my purpose in life. That’s it,” Hatcher said. “I think a lot of that is just being an example to my family, trying to set a foundation, and just trying to be an inspiration and motivation to everybody. Just leave a mark in this world to where I leave it better—leave an impact, to make a change, make a difference. That’s how you live forever.”
Prospective students interested in the CDL truck driving program can find additional information on STLCC’s CDL-A Professional Truck Driving program web page. Visit STLCC’s SkillUP Missouri page to learn more about SkillUP training scholarships for short-term training programs and support services.
When Ms. Willard enrolled in the SkillUP Program, she was working part-time and making slightly above minimum wage. She expressed interest in an Office Administrative Assistant Program. It required less than $1000 in SkillUP funds to cover the cost of the class, including textbooks and materials for the course. Ms. Willard did not have access to a computer or internet, and her SkillUP case manager arranged for her to use equipment at a location near her home.
Upon completion of the program, Ms. Willard earned a certificate and a promotion to a new job within her organization.
Colleges
1964 Prairie Dell Road, Union, MO 63084
Program Contact: Melissa Schall Willmore | 636.584.6530
1000 Viking Drive, Hillsboro, MO 63050
Program Contact: Saranda Lund | 636.481.3221
3200 Broadway, Kansas City, MO 64111
Program Contact: Jeanne Schmidt | 816.604.4159
5270 Flat River Road, Park Hills, MO 63601
Program Contact: Tina Miller | 573.518.3840
101 College Avenue, Moberly, MO 65270
Program Contact: Brandi Glover | 660.263.4100 x 11378
1001 E Chestnut Expressway, Springfield, MO 65802
Program Contact: Jeremy Delucia | 417.447.8894
Resources
Disclaimer
This program is supported by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1,211,000 with 69 percentage funded by ACF/HHS and 31 percentage funded by non-federal government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACF/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit the ACF website, Administrative and National Policy Requirements.