Residential Program Manager and Knoxville Alumni, Kelsey Goff, spoke to KHS students about career opportunities at COC.

Christian Opportunity Center (COC) recently worked with local high school and college students to educate them on career and service opportunities available at COC. COC staff members spoke to Knoxville High School (KHS)  students during KHS Career Week to educate students on services offered and career opportunities.  COC staff informed students on the many different career paths that are available and duties of different positions, from Direct Support, Management, Administration, and Leadership.  As part of their presentation, KHS students participated in disability awareness exercises to promote understanding and empathy for individuals with disabilities and ways they can be involved in supporting individuals with disabilities, individuals in their schools and communities right now.               

Central College Micro-Internship Student, Mary McGraw spent three days working side-by-side COC staff.

COC also hosted a Micro-Internship with Central college during their Career Kick-starter week. A Central student interested in non-profit human resources was able to spend three days working side by side with the COC HR department and management. The Central Micro-Intern sat in on interviews, staff training, and everyday operations. The intern witnessed how managers support the staff to retain them, how COC has managed covid/staff shortage, and the adjustments that have had to be made.

Justin Van Steenwyk, Program Manager for Community Based Employment-Life Skills and Associate Director, Jodi Tukker welcomed students to COC.

Another component of educating local youth on COC services took part as part of the KHS Career Week. COC’s Life Skills/Day Habilitation program hosted special education students to learn about services and opportunities in COC’s vocational programs. COC’s Life Skills/Day Habilitation focuses on training in life skills such as independent living skills, social skills, and communication skills. Day Habilitation participants often practice these skills in the community in an integrated setting. KHS students participated in some of the COC’s Life Skills program activities as part of their tour.  Students also learned about COC’s Community Based Employment program, which helps individuals find and maintain employment in the community.

“These interactions have been a fantastic opportunity for COC to connect with local youth and make them aware of everything COC has to offer, whether they choose to work here or receive services COC.  There will always be a need for disability services in every community, for someone to realize at this age that their involvement in disability services can and will build stronger communities,” said Amy Zuck, COC Public Information Director.

If you want more information on COC and the services, please visit www.christianopprotunity.org

Christian Opportunity Center (COC) has felt the strain of a staff shortage for several months and the shortage has now reached critical levels. This shortage is most evident in the need for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). DSPs offer around-the-clock support for individuals with disabilities. Their work allows the people COC supports the opportunity to live the life they choose to live.

The turnover rate for DSPs has been affected by non-standard working hours and pay that is bound by state and federal funding. Since the pandemic began, the staff shortage has intensified. Competing with other local industries offering higher pay and better hours makes it particularly challenging in recruiting new employees.

In the past year, COC has made many efforts to recruit and retain staff, including offering a higher sign-on bonus, utilizing temp agencies to fill the need, and increasing DSP wages. These efforts have all been enhanced with support from Staff Enhancement funds from the COC Foundation Fund. The Staff Enhancement Fund is designed to reward and provide incentives to staff members to continue their service with COC. Even with all the extra efforts made over the past year, COC has not been able to meet our staffing needs. To fill the gaps, COC administrative staff have been working many hours during this crisis an average of 300 direct support hours per week agency wide.

COC has 26 residential programs in Pella, Knoxville, Oskaloosa, Indianola, and Des Moines, several of which have been critically short staffed for an extended time. The continued stress on COC’s workforce has forced COC Leadership to make some hard decisions to ensure the quality of the services we offer and to ease the burden and workload for current staff. Because of the ongoing staffing crisis, the decision was made to close a few of our residential programs that have been the hardest to staff, and the impacted people supported and their families have been notified of these closures.

Closing programs is a last resort in an attempt to downsize COC’s programs to more closely match the workforce available to staff these programs. We are keenly aware that the lives of people supported and their families are disrupted by these closings. We are doing all we can to assist those affected in finding alternative services. We continue to believe in the importance of our mission of integrating Christian values in empowering individuals with disabilities to realize their full potential, and we encourage others to join us in that mission by applying for a job at COC. For more information on job opportunities that are available at COC, please visit our website at www.christianopportunity.org or contact our HR department at 641-628-1162.