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Winnipeg, Man.
MEDA-supported job-finding agency helps people find jobs


For Michelle Nicolychuk, a single mother of three, finding a good job was hard work. Then she found House of Opportunities, a new program supported by the Winnipeg chapter of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).

“I couldn’t find anything that offered good prospects for long-term work and decent wages,” she says. “House of Opportunities helped me find the job I was looking for.”

There, Nicolychuk got help writing a résumé and learning to use the computer and Internet to look for work. Today she is working as a cook at a seniors centre. “It’s a great job,” she says, adding that she couldn’t have found it without help and encouragement.

House of Opportunities, which officially opened in February, is part of Opportunities for Employment (OFE), a unique MEDA-supported job-finding agency in Winnipeg that has helped over 2000 people leave welfare since 1996.

According to OFE director Ted Klassen, the agency was happy with its success rate. More than 60 per cent of people who come to OFE find work and stay at their jobs for at least six months, compared to the industry average of about a 40 per cent success rate in helping people leave social assistance.

“That’s pretty good, but we weren’t satisfied,” he says. “We wanted to do something to help those who weren’t succeeding, who were slipping through the cracks.” As a result, House of Opportunities was born.

It offers a warm, friendly home-like atmosphere, as well as access to computers, the Internet and email; use of fax and phone; skills training; a résumé service; and help with job interview skills.

“We really stress that people aren’t just a number here,” says program co-coordinator Earl Fast. He says the program’s target is people who haven’t worked for years or who have low self-esteem – people who have been repeatedly told they don’t have the skills or education to get a job.

House of Opportunities doesn’t pressure people to find a job. “A lot of people who came in when we first opened had no intention of working,” says Fast. “But when they start seeing people come through the door saying, ‘I got a job’, it starts to rub off.”

In fact, says Klassen, not everyone who comes to House of Opportunities will find work. He cites research showing there are a number of reasons why some people can’t make the transition from welfare to work – addictions, personal and family problems or lack of support at home. For some, the House will be a gateway to other services, such as help with an addiction or personal counselling – “services that can help start them on their way to employment,” he says.

In addition to Winnipeg’s MEDA chapter, funding and support for House of Opportunities also comes from the City of Winnipeg, a neighbourhood business association, Manitoba Hydro and Palliser Furniture.

Opportunities for Employment is unique among work placement agencies in Canada since it only gets paid by the provincial government when it achieves results – when clients stay at jobs for six months.

 – John Longhurst, MEDA

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Last modified November 30, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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