ETX organization teaches women job & life skills in faith-based environment | News

TYLER, TX (KLTV)- If you've been searching for a job lately, you know how hard it can be, especially when there are a lot of technical qualifications to meet.

But one East Texas organization is helping women learn those technical skills and so much more.

The Christian Women's Job Corps is a national nonprofit organization that started in Tyler in 2000.

A major goal of theirs is to provide those job skills, but as Executive Director Kathy Gohmert told me recently, the Christian Women's Job Corps is about so much more than job skills -- their classes are just as much about helping women learn about who they are and how they can use their strengths to best serve their communities.

"Our goal is to provide, what is that link that they're missing to connect them to job success and life success," Gohmert said.

For 12 years now, the Christian Women's Job Corps of Tyler has provided classes for lower-income women of all different walks of life to learn the skills they need to start or advance their careers.

"It gave us the ability to learn computer skills and job skills, which I didn't know you could be taught job skills and life skills, so I feel like it was my calling to come here and better myself, really," said recent graduate Khaulynee Oliver of Tyler.

Oliver is one of 49 women who graduated from the Job Corps this spring. Before she came to the Christian Women's Job Corps, she says she felt "stuck" -- but those feelings quickly changed.

"I was eager to come to class, to learn something new, to learn something new about myself. It was really a chance for self-discovery and growth here," Oliver said.

Thanks to her life coaching and computer skills classes, Oliver now wants to use her gift of speaking to work in public administration or office management.

"I feel like Christian Women's Job Corps has given me that confidence that I can help someone else -- a young woman my age, or younger, or maybe someone older -- to see that it doesn't matter what situation you come from, whether you're currently in it or coming out of it, that you can do something positive with your life," she said.

"I think every woman who graduates leaves knowing what her strength is, that God has a plan for her, and that God has equipped her with these gifts that she has, the strength that she has, so that she can be a benefit to life," said Gohmert.

Oliver plans to attend TJC in the fall to continue her studies for a degree in either public administration or office management. In the meantime, she's looking for a job to continue using the skills she learned at the Christian Women's Job Corps.

If you'd like to enroll in the Christian Women's Job Corps, you need to be a woman who is at least 18 years old and has a high school degree or a GED. The program is income-based.

The program will have open enrollment on August 21st and 22nd, and classes for the fall semester will start on September 10th. You can find out how to enroll or how to volunteer with the program by liking their Facebook page or going to their website.

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