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Over the past 12 years, Advance Memphis has utilized soft-skills job training to help people get to work. From 2005 to 2015, we used a curriculum from an organization called Jobs for Life. Two years ago, Advance Memphis and the Chalmers Center for Economic Development  worked with Jobs for Life to co-publish a new jobs-training curriculum called Work Life, specifically designed for communities suffering from the effects of multi-generational poverty.  Since the completion of the curriculum, Advance Memphis and the Chalmers Center have partnered to train churches and ministries in Work Life, and Advance now runs an annual training for new Work Life Facilitators. Advance Memphis is deeply grateful for this partnership with Jobs for Life and the Chalmers Center that has spanned many years. We are also grateful for the many churches and organizations that are engaged in this work around our nation.

What is Work Life?

Work Life is a biblically integrated job and life-skills curriculum designed specifically for low-income adults. Through Work Life, churches and non-profits can assist the materially poor in developing crucial skills for flourishing in their careers and communities. While Work Life covers typical jobs-readiness topics like interviewing skills and understanding what employers want, the curriculum goes deeper and engages participants in God’s grand story for their lives. Participants, Allies, and Instructors walk together in relationships, uncovering how to live all of life, including work, in light of that story. Naming gifts, developing communication skills, healing from the past, and overcoming difficult roadblocks are all topics addressed in interactive, participatory ways throughout the curriculum. The $350 training package equips you to walk with your low-income neighbors over time, leading to lasting transformation. Register here.

Why Work Life?

Becoming a Work Life facilitator prepares you to:

• Move your church or ministry from giving things to the poor to building
  relationships with the poor, leading to long term change.
• Apply the poverty alleviation principles described in When Helping Hurts to your context.
• Create a concrete jobs preparedness ministry plan tailored to your community.
• Train low-income people in concrete job and life skills, such as smart communication, knowing and applying their gifts on the job, interviewing techniques, and more.
• Mobilize church members to serve as allies alongside participants, engaging your broader ministry circles in empowering low-income workers.

Get Trained

Start Work Life classes in your community by:

• Completing four weeks of online training, unpacking the principles of effective poverty alleviation and adult education.
• Attending the live training event, practicing facilitation with other ministry leaders and staff from Advance Memphis and Chalmers Center.

The Work Life Facilitator Training costs $350 at the early bird rate and $400 after May 21st. The training will take place in two stages. The online portion will begin June 5; live training will take place July 14th and 15th at Advance Memphis. Register here.

Interested in auditing? If you’re considering whether Work Life is right for your group or you have team members who would benefit from some training (though they won’t be facilitating), consider auditing. Participants may audit the online portion of training for $25. This does not include the live training and will not result in certification. Email Bryce Stout at bstout@advancememphis.org with questions about auditing.

Wondering if Work Life is a fit for your organization? Have other questions?

Visit our FAQ page for more information, Or email Bryce Stout at bstout@advancememphis.org.

View sample materials here: Work Life Intro and Course Map | Session 08 | Session 10

We are currently collecting school supplies to support the participants of our programs.

As our neighbors pursue their professional and educational goals, having these supplies available to them is a great help. Anytime in the month of February, we are collecting:

• Copy Paper (no holes)
• Dry Erase markers
• Thin tip colored marker sets 
• Sticky notes
• Manila Folders
• Legal Pads
• Boxes of Kleenex
• 2-Pocket Folders
• Donations for High School Equivalency Testing fee ($75 per test) 

Can’t collect supplies, but still want to help? You can donate online by clicking the button below:

This is a great opportunity to organize a group, collect donations together, and share the mission and vision of Advance Memphis with your friends. Interested in being a team leader for collecting these items in your small group, Sunday school class or workplace? Contact Cindy – cindy@advancememphis.org for info.

Scroll down for the links that will allow you to sign up to bring a meal or to donate to the meal fund.

Through the years at Advance, providing meals to our participants has been and continues to be a critical factor to their overall success. We are located in a food desert, so quick access to a substantial meal is difficult for many. To help combat this, we work with generous volunteers to regularly provide lunch and dinner for some of our programs, providing the energy participants need to stay focused during class time. Because of God’s mercy in growing our capacity we now have multiple programs for which we need food – Work Life, Faith & Finances, Overcoming Through Christ, and LAUNCH. 

We have two upcoming classes – Work Life and Faith & Finances – for which we’re needing meals. The info on how to sign up for each is as follows:

Work Life: LUNCH

May 11 – June 17
-Monday-Thursday during the day
-Food delivered between 11 am-noon (depending on day of week)
-Enough to feed 20 people
–Sign-up online, or check here for open dates and email Amanda to sign up

Faith & Finances: DINNER

May 5 – July 21
-Thursday evenings
-Food delivered between 4:30-5 pm
-Enough to feed 25-30 people
–Sign-up online, or check here for open dates and email Amanda to sign up

We are grateful to partner with our volunteers in this way as God continues His work in the 38126 community!

As you plan and dream for ways to learn, grow, and serve in 2016, please consider using our 2016 Involvement Guide as a resource. Those who pray, give, and serve at Advance Memphis are the lifeblood of this work. The Guide contains class schedules, contact information, and volunteer roles–everything you need to make a plan to share your gifts in a way that blesses others and fits your life. We created this guide because we need roughly 240 volunteers every year, many of them in the highly relational roles that are essential to our programs. These volunteers are truly the body of Christ at work in Memphis. We thank you for considering ways you can get involved this year. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE 2016 ADVANCE MEMPHIS INVOLVEMENT GUIDE.

 Each year 100+ Advance Memphis participants make choices and take steps to move forward with their educational and professional goals, such as:

Your gifts, prayers, and service are essential to this work. We’ve produced our 2015 Involvement Guide to give you an easy way to see the needs of the ministry and plan the right time to get involved. Use the information and calendars, and let us know your thoughts and questions. It is our great joy to serve alongside each of you, and we look forward to more of that in the coming year.

Activities are in full swing around Advance Memphis and we have multiple ways for you to get involved RIGHT NOW!

Be a Part of Jobs for Life
Are you interested in building new relationships, and assisting and encouraging Jobs for Life (JfL) participants as they apply the principles of God’s Word to their life? Then being a Champion could be a great next step for you! Champions meet with a small group of JfL participants every Wednesday from 11 am – noon and walk along side them as they go through the 6-week job skills program and transition into the workforce. The next Jobs for Life class starts on May 7.

Maybe the 11 am – noon time-frame doesn’t work with your schedule but you still want to serve the hard-working  participants at Advance. If so, you should consider being a Lunch Provider! Monday – Thursday we have people taking part in multiple programs and to help them stay focused and provide a time of fellowship, we offer lunch that is provided by volunteers. You can cover the cost of a lunch, pick something up, or bring by a home-cooked meal.

Do you doodle much or enjoy the picture-drawing element of Pictionary? During each Jobs for Life class we have a MAPs activity, for which we enlist people to serve as Graphic Facilitators and help the JfL participants’ dreams and goals come to life in colorful pictures. It is a unique way to be involved as our participants continue putting into action all that they are learning in class.

Help “Run” the Advance Memphis 5k
There is a 5k to benefit Advance Memphis on May 31. The event is completely volunteer-led and the starting line is at First Evangelical Church. If running or walking for 3.1 miles doesn’t sound appealing, we would still love to have you take part! Come help register participants, pass out water, and cheer the runners/walkers on to the finish line. Any way you choose to participate, the event is sure to be an enjoyable time! 

Yes, I’m Interested!
If interested in being a Champion, Lunch Provider, Graphic Facilitator, or helping with the 5k, contact Amanda Coop at acoop@advancememphis.org for more details.