Kentucky Chamber Foundation Fair Chance Academy accepting applications for first ever class

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WYMT) – April is Nationwide Second Likelihood Month and Kentucky Chamber Basis officers mentioned it’s a time to handle the substance use dysfunction disaster.

As a part of the hassle, the Chamber Basis’s Workforce Restoration Program is launching its first ever Honest Likelihood Academy this spring. Employers could apply till Friday, April 15, with programming to begin in Might.

Chamber Basis officers mentioned the Academy is the primary of its form within the state and can present companies and employers with coaching, data and assets to create transformational employment alternatives for people in restoration from substance use issues.

“Employment is a important element of long-term restoration, and the enterprise neighborhood has an essential position to play in serving to people return to the workforce and decreasing stigma round restoration within the office,” mentioned Morgan Kirk, Director of the Kentucky Chamber Basis’s Workforce Restoration Program. “We’re excited to start providing this coaching to assist employers rework lives, and we encourage companies of all sizes and throughout all industries to use.”

Program officers will settle for 15 corporations for the inaugural cohort. Three, full-day coaching workshops can be at Chamber headquarters in Frankfort on Might 11, Might 25 and June 8. The next three months can be spent implementing steps throughout the companies to turn out to be “honest likelihood” employers.

“We see an actual alternative to make a constructive affect throughout Kentucky by means of the Honest Likelihood Academy,” mentioned Van Ingram, Government Director of the Kentucky Workplace of Drug Management Coverage. “Greater than 1,900 Kentuckians died from drug overdoses in 2020. That’s a 49% improve from 2019. Certifying employers as ‘honest likelihood’ can present secure employment for somebody, which is a important element of long-term restoration. This will present Kentuckians with the aim and motivation they may want to remain in remission and get their lives again.”

The Honest Likelihood Academy is a part of the Kentucky Chamber Basis’s Transformational Employment Program, which launched in 2021 and supplies employers assist reaching and supporting Kentuckians in long-term restoration from substance use issues.

An extra intention of the Academy is to do away with any stigma round hiring employees in energetic restoration.

”It’s crucial to know that with the Honest Likelihood Academy we can assist companies look by means of what that stigma is and perceive that they’ve an actual potential to faucet right into a expertise pool that’s beforehand been missed,” mentioned Kirk.

Chamber officers mentioned 55 Kentucky employers are signed up and can affect greater than 11,000 staff.

Copyright 2022 WYMT. All rights reserved.