.

It can be a struggle for employers to find qualified workers and then meanwhile many adults in the U.S. are finding themselves as part of a great untapped workforce hindered by barriers to employment.

>> And in Northeast Indiana, Bluejacket provides education, training and opportunities to any disadvantaged person who is striving to earn a second chance at gainful employment.

>> It's tough to find a good job but what about those with barriers homeless a disability the past or seem too old or too young to count?

>> What if they could be prepared, restored and given a chance to work to prove themselves capable and responsible since 2005 Bluejacket has been training and employing disadvantaged individuals who can again say I am worthy, I am worthy, I'm worthy.

>> I'm worth connect with Bluejacket today and we will indeed connect with Bluejacket today on this edition of Prime Time.

>> Good evening, I'm Bruce Haines and with us from Bluejacket is Tony Hudson.

He is the executive director there and you can join our conversation from your position where you are.

>> Just use the number on the screen to call in with your questions and comments.

>> Tony, thanks so much for being here.

Thank you for inviting me.

Really appreciate.

We're going to unmuzzled the waters from the beginning because it is such a wonderful thing to look at from the outside in that there is a person and program and a protocol that are all connected to the words Bluejacket and so I thought maybe we could start with the person part for whom your organization is named who was Bluejacket Alpha.

>> Thank you.

Well you always you always tease these so wonderful.

>> Thank you.

Bluejacket was named after Shantee Warrior two hundred and forty years ago who walked in Fort Wayne and the Fort Wayne region unifying tribes fought what chief Little Turtle was an influential diplomat leader he spoke many languages a traitor but he was known to be a very fierce warrior who not many of us here in the Fort Wayne area know about.

So when when when Bluejacket was being created we thought let's let's give homage to someone who who lived here and who helped create this this great city.

And I tell many people without Bluejacket there'd be no Fort Wayne and smugly say that just trying to entrap them in the realization I'm talking about the chief not the nonprofit because without the chief winning some pretty incredibly decisive battles harmers defeat and St. Claire's defeat there would have been no battle of fallen timbers which is where gentlemen Anthony Wayne beat the beat the Unified Tribes at that time.

>> Well and for the challenge to overcome with employment and getting folks back into the labor force that takes a certain drive and determination and diplomacy and those are a lot of those transferable qualities perhaps running.

>> He was he gave a lot of hope and we hope that we give a lot of hope as well.

Absolutely.

And that hope goes back to the piece we just saw said 2005 beginning in the 2000 twos and threes and then launching in 2005 what was that your Bluejacket agency saw that warranted the kind of programing that you have now.

>> So in 2003 2002 it was post 9/11 where individuals, men and women coming home from prison had such a hardship to to procure employment.

In fact at any one point it was evaluated that nearly seventy seven percent at that time were unemployed after returning returning home from prison which was the one of the major predictors for recidivism or returning back to prison.

So when when I worked in criminal justice and there was a perfect lining of Starr's Democratic mayor, Republican commissioners, city and county working together with the judicial system the creation of this independent nonprofit it was born in two thousand three to solve that problem and and we realized as we were incorporating this nonprofit that eventually we would want to open the doors to anyone with a barrier knowing that this was going to be a success as we piloted it at any kind of community corrections for a number of years.

Well, we have a graphic to share which also speaks to the question of who you serve and you have seen this before.

>> Let's put that up there.

Walk us through this.

By golly, I wish I could see it.

It's diverse.

>> Well, I still can't see it.

I need bifocals.

It's a small graphic.

>> We serve a lot of different individuals with their selfprep.

>> I believe this comes from our annual report.

I'm sorry.

I can't see that it does but age, race, gender and so many of these things that are actually speaking to and in fact as we get into the discussion of the program, it is not only for those with who are fully abled but those who are differently abled.

>> Yes.

So we'll get to that.

>> So let's in fact talk first though about no matter what the age, race and gender and in such you are saying what the barriers are that overcome some folks feel they can't even buy a break, you know, and how do you get them off that that that's something?

>> Well, even if you go back to that graphic, I know that the individuals who are watching this at home will be able to see that large number of individuals that walk in through our front door.

They do have criminal backgrounds but many do not.

And in that there there are individuals with different abilities or intellectual disability, cognitive disability and that number is ticking up for Bluejacket because we acknowledge that that without an opportunity it's hard for them to be become employed.

The great thing about our organization is that we don't turn anyone away who walks in our front door.

So if my self reported barriers that I haven't worked for 20 years because I've been busy raising a family and now I want to reemerge into the workforce that seems to be a barrier or I just had a really difficult time during the pandemic and I quit my job and now I'm ready to reenter the workforce.

I was going through a mental health episode and I feel like I'm ready to regain my footing then those are the individuals we really like to be able to serve Bruce and we're seeing the images of the career academy in motion.

This has been seen as I think the ideal was a job training boot camp.

>> Yes, it is.

That's really good.

I actually haven't heard that in a while.

The the we now call it the Bluejacket Academy but we've graduated over thirty thirty five hundred people which is an amazing statistic for for me.

I know I'd get the actual number wrong so I know it's above thirty five hundred and those individuals that you're seeing are actually graduates from this year we've had a large uptick in individuals who are entering to our program knowing that the economy is shifting a little bit and and what is this boot camp mean?

I am I am going through this regiment of soft skill training trying to prove my worth not just to myself but to a future employer.

We understand that Bluejacket has a network of employers that will dispatch me for that opportunity to be that candidate for whatever job they have opened.

But also when I come to Bluejacket I graduate this intensive training that you mentioned was a boot camp.

I have to be on time.

I have to be dress business professional.

I have to have my assignments complete every day even if I have limited English speaking or I can't read the side of a bus.

>> I understand that I'm going to have tutors assigned to me who believe it or not the tutors are Bluejacket clients themselves.

So we have a big network of staff members who assist those individuals as they go through class and once they graduate if they can't get a job out in the community based employment, guess what?

>> We'll hire them in-house.

And this is where we we know that the first Bluejacket is a part of that's a part of the outfit literally that you want them coming to the program ready to conduct business on their own behalf.

Yeah, So we give free clothes to our students believe it or not.

So and when individuals make donations to our two thrift stores Renew by Bluejacket in Georgetown and the Blue Jacket clothing company which was born out of our clothing bank well thank you for that graphic.

The Blue Jacket clothing company just opened up four six three three Lima Road just north of Calcium and we sell close to the general public so that we can employ our clients so that we can give free clothes to our students which is really wonderful.

In fact I bought this tither Bruce .

I remember I told you I had to change it because my staff said it wasn't the first one wasn't working very well for TV.

>> It's working great on TV and in high def Nola's.

So it's going to work out great and all kinds of again comes back to the power of those words Bluejacket the person Bluejacket the program blue jacket, the jacket and yet even it symbolizes the idea and we have a video to support the claim that it's more than just a jacket.

I first came across Bluejacket years ago I was actually looking for I was in the market for a nice sports jacket and what happened was they actually just opened their store and I went in and actually purchased a nice jacket actually I purchased four of them in one day from that experience having more in the jacket I actually experienced firsthand what a blue jacket jacket meant to somebody who had actually transformed my life in a way that I I couldn't have expected.

People looked at me in a way that I hadn't experienced before.

All of a sudden I started getting compliments about how professional I looked and and all this stuff and and I couldn't I couldn't pinpoint it to anything else but the purchase of a jacket.

So actually from there it actually made me kind of want to do something to help out.

So what I did I took a paperclip and I transformed the paperclip into clothes hanger pins something that they can give out to people, something the blue jacket give out to possible donors and actually actually worked out pretty well and actually handmade everything and it was kind of a labor of love but I really enjoyed doing it and I really kind of want to give back to an organization that actually helped me out because again the whole purpose of Bluejacket is to change your life , to transform the life if having a jacket like this transformed my life in that little way, what impact could a organization like Bluejacket have for someone who actually needs it and the success rate is phenomenal and high praise to your team for being able to deliver the one apparently.

Yeah that is thank you and that is a great testament to to a number of employees who actually are Bluejacket clients themselves not all of them but but some of them and they're in positions of leadership making sure that our clients are tended to in a great way ensuring that they're procuring employment and staying there.

>> So job retention matters.

Yeah, 60 percent of graduates from bluejackets training get hooked up with jobs within twenty eight days and some of those we have a couple of images to to share this I believe is from Renu.

>> Mm hmm.

Yeah that's before we put our really large testimonial wall a whole bunch of pictures of successful clients and that's Emily tending to a customer who who is our one of our key holders there at the at the store and that's what we're in Georgetown.

It's just newly opened and then an interesting collage.

We have several other ways in which Bluejacket graduates can help themselves.

>> They can help the community and let's let's share that collage of images that will take us through a couple of the newer additions to Bluejacket like the Bluejacket Rapide Tall Rabbit Cafe and Community that in and of itself I think is really kind of stunning.

>> Here we go.

Tell us what we're looking at.

Well, believe it or not, one lucky guitar came through and did some video for our local foundation and they said Hey, do you want to keep the video which is really wonderful.

>> It's well produced and this actually was the first week we had the TAL Rabbit open.

We have Bobby in that is working the Blue Jacket clothing company there she is our manager incredible success story and and that is really kind of the background of what are people we're doing there.

They're always working.

They're always in relationship with each other.

You see this this vintage sign of the Tall Rabbit Cafe and Bruce I would imagine with the amount of research I see in front of you, you probably know why we called it the Tall Rabbit.

>> That is my guess.

I well I cheated and looked the back of the book where the answer key was located but I think it can also be seen even on the mug in front of me I see where that could arguably be the tall part but this is yet another incarnation of Bluejacket.

>> Yes it is.

Yes it is.

So as Shuni War chief that was that became his adopted name Bluejacket and the assumption is that he got it while trading with French traders and prior to that he had a nickname Big Rabbit Whirlpool or Tall Rabbit and that is how he fought on the battlefield.

Bruce it's ugly.

It's ugly part of our history but that's why we named it after our namesake Bluejacket and we should give location to this is on Calhoun Street two thousand one South Calhoun.

It's right across the street from Saigon Restaurant, my favorite restaurant in Fort Wayne .

So it's an intersection of Williams and Calhoun and it's the old erm Sapelo window building we were renting the storefront of the old Pella window building and it is it's really dreamy location and when you pull it all together again now in in like an acid charge of some sort there are six different social enterprisespthe clientele that that it serves and it's a real circle of employment life here.

>> Back in twenty seventeen the very innovative board of directors of Bluejacket decided that they were going to create the strategy this long term strategy that we are going to build enterprises in the world of non-profits.

It's called a social enterprise but we dove a little deeper this these social enterprises are affirmative businesses.

There are businesses that are intended to affirmatively hire the people whose lives are trying to change.

So these six enterprises, social enterprises were designed to create that mechanism for people who weren't ready to go work, start their start their career track out and community based employment but under the guise and protection of bluejackets umbrella they're able to develop their soft skills on the job skills while earning a wage, getting stable footing and becoming much more productive.

And so we saw this beautiful manifestation at the Bluejacket Clothing Company when that came to life ten years ago and as it continued to grow and we were allowed to hire about four or five people in-house we thought this is beautiful because my staff are able to go out and interface with those individuals as they're working every single day.

Hey, I ran into an issue with my home life .

I ran into an issue with my recovery and sobriety or I ran into an issue of transportation.

We're able to handle those remedy those barriers and as people are working through those life circumstances, as these social enterprises become very valuable to them and it also allows us to open up our doors to the Fort Wayne commuity like hey, you want to see how we treat our individuals?

You want to see how excellent a nonprofit can be and service delivery for its clientele.

Why don't you become a customer yourself and allow our clientele to serve you so at Renew by Blue Jacket Blue Jacket Clothing and Taraba Cafe is complemented by Bluejacket Staffing Fantasy Alights and Bluejacket Cleaning which we have about eight contracts out businesses and we're very grateful for that and that also Brous provides about thirty seven jobs right now for us to be able to hire our clients in-house well and all those enterprises added up to one signify can civic commendation nonprofit of the year for twenty twenty three by Greater Fort Wayne this.

>> Yeah I actually forgot that and I scoffed I was like laughing I'm like that's funny but yeah you're right that did happen.

>> Thank you.

You've been to this you were joking with me but yeah we did get in.

>> How do you think you was a tremendous thing but the way time and that was just since June.

Tinnell And then looking ahead it is worth spending a couple of times I can't believe that we're going into the eighth year of Fantasy of Lights.

This was a significant rite of passage from Awoo US Foundation to your agency about the middle of the decade and the time really has been flying by and you've it's an expectation and it's a celebration every year I would jokingly say it feels like one hundred and thirty years for me of being that I work quite a bit but it is a it is such a wonderful gift that the foundation bestowed upon us.

We take it with seriousness that families get together and friends get together over the holidays to celebrate each other and celebrate the holidays and the fantasy of is our debut to be able to hire more of our clients and showcase them to not just people in the Fort Wayne area but people from all over and it takes quite a quite a bit a lot of people to be able to set up and tear down and to to orchestrate that event every year and it's never too late to start thinking about it there on the calendar.

>> We know they're coming in holidays will be with us and many others will also have it on on theirs as well.

And yet even before those lights are plugged in and turned on, you have another event coming for the community that is also a seventh annual.

Not sure how that happened but it's called the second chance art exhibit.

>> It is, yes.

That was born out of our desire to tell stories and we acknowledge that sometimes fine artists have the most beautiful way to tell a story of redemption of second chance.

In fact, a lot of these individuals are getting their first chance second chance as has the stigma that it's only individuals that have burned their first chance, second chance meaning that perhaps someone with a criminal background and that's not the case anymore that we're celebrating individuals that have never worked a day in their life and here they are buying their first home and artists are able to at this art exhibit and display that 14 incredible artists on September 8th it's in the back of our office complex that we have spent many, many, many dollars and hours remodeling to make it one of the most beautiful gems on the South Calhoon Corridor.

So this gallery space will be hosting probably three hundred to four hundred individuals at any one point, she said is our band Blue will be catering twenty five dollar ticket you and your your incredible wife will be able to get tickets and go out for an evening, look at beautiful art and have fun rubbing shoulders with probably the most diverse crowd at a fine art exhibit that I experience.

>> It's really a wonderful event and the wonderfulness of the organization should also be noted no government funding correct?

We did receive a community development block grant from the city of Fort Wayne so I can't say that now but they're assisting in our production of the academy which I appreciate that.

But that's like two percent of our funding and it is that much more a city investment city return city writ large, you know, to have all of that there and with the numbers I want to get your thoughts on this that it costs nearly twenty nine thousand dollars a year to keep someone in prison for less than three percent of that cost.

The Career Academy provides the training and guidance to get that person out as a positive force in society.

>> Yeah, back when we were evaluating that we spent a lot of time on what the impact was on our our on our investment in individuals who have been to prison and came back home and I believe at the time I don't remember the the Allen County statistics for recidivism and that investment but I believe it was forty seven percent were returning back to state or federal penitentiaries.

Those who went to Bluejacket within a year or two I think I can't remember Bruce I'm sorry but it was but I do know it was eleven percent so we we cut it we cut it down significantly from the expected rate and the program that folks moved through it is not just to get the job but important once you get there.

>> How to stay there.

Yes.

Spend a lot of time with our case manager.

Career manager Jennifer Harvey works with individuals to overcome the barriers even on the job not just before the job.

Our our goal is to make sure employers are happy.

But you got to remember that employers who come to Bluejacket and they say we want to hire your individuals not because we want a people or individuals and just kind of go through high turnover employers that come to us and say I we genuinely want to be able to lift people up, acknowledge that when an individual who feels no hope and they walk into that threshold of that human resources room and they they hear the words you're hired, they're validated, they're seeing their confidence is boosted through the ceiling and their dedication and loyalty to that company that was willing to give them the chance when they thought they didn't deserve one in the first place.

They meaning the clients who are walking in the clients of blue jacket who are walking in feeling like I don't deserve this chance and now I got it.

I'm loyal to this company and I've seen that umpteen times.

In fact we'll call in we'll call one of our clients graduates of the program and say hey, here's is wonderful job that's available for X amount of dollars and this is in your career track.

Is this something that you want to entertain?

No, I'm loyal to Company X right now that I'm working for maybe in a couple more years when I when I get more skills and accreditation I'll be interested.

But right now I'm I'm I'm happy serving them and then we feel guilty that we're trying to pull them away from that employer that gave him the chance in the first place.

>> Well, I do find a wonderful descriptor of those employers who are willing to offer the second chance.

>> You describe it as a secret philanthropy of lending a hand .

>> I said that so so right here.

Wow, that's that's amazing.

And you said something else too that you have a minute to comment on that developing our neighbors with barriers through to employment through training is vital for Fort Wayne's future.

>> How so?

You think about all the individuals that are reliant upon someone who is productive .

Their life becomes a little bit more organized and they're starting to pay their own bills and support and debts.

There are family members that are waiting in the flanks who are impacted by an individual's inability to be able to procure and keep a job so that not only impacts that one individual who has regained and hope and confidence, it impacts their families and then their neighbors next to them because now they're keeping a better lawn and now they're they're driving a car that is on on blocks.

>> Wow.

Tony Hudson is the executive director of Blue Jacket.

>> You can find him here on TV.

You can also find Blue Jacket online head on over to Blue Inc dot org and you'll find all sorts of additional information about what you've heard this evening on prime time for Tony and for all of us here, I'm Bruce Haines.

>> Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your evening.

>> We'll see you next week.

The