With all the economic development happening locally, especially the ongoing industrial boom west of South Bend, the skilled trades need workers. Employers hope to help meet some of that demand with a job fair for people coming out of prison.
The nonprofit Beacon Resource Center, in the former Beacon Bowl bowling alley near South Bend International Airport, will host a Second Chance Job & Resource Fair on Thursday. The Beacon’s executive director, Jeff Walker, says they haven’t done a job fair for those re-entering the community after they’ve served their prison time since 2021.
But Walker says a similar job fair recently had success in Indianapolis, and South Bend area employers need help.
”With the things that are being built in our community and in our county, the trend appears to be pretty high and pretty significant for providing employment opportunities,” Walker says.
Walker says that’s especially true for the building trades.
”Our Laborers Union is one in particular, they’ve been at all of our job fairs and they are at a lot of events, but our other trades as well.”
They’ll also get help with setting up necessities, like housing and health care, that most people take for granted.
“They want to do those same routine things, so giving people an opportunity to do that, I think is huge.”
