In Jobcare we believe that working matters.  However all of us know that there are those yet in our community, in our nation, for whom working has never been a regular component of their lives. And in our current pandemic landscape, redundancy and unemployment are a harsh reality for those who never expected it. The experience of unemployment is devastating for individuals, families, businesses, communities, government agencies and society at large.

Working brings income, brings structure to the day, brings physical, mental, emotional, and indeed for some spiritual, satisfaction. Working and not working positively and negatively impact family life, friends, neighbours, and community acquaintances.  Working contributes financially to the overall economy.  Working matters.

Since 1994, Jobcare has been working in Dublin’s inner city, assisting those struggling with the effects of long-term unemployment to get over their barriers to employment.  We have developed a set of services relevant to the particular needs of certain groups of job-seekers or individuals who have never known how work can facilitate a balanced life.  We’ve also developed solutions to assist those with sound qualifications and experience, but encountering difficulty in a competitive jobs market.  These services are effective and get people into work.

I say that these services are effective, that each course or programme has been tailored to ensure it is relevant to our clients’ needs.  This is true and important.  But equally important is how the services are delivered and the heart behind them.

This world is in a mess, and unemployment in particular contributes to the mess in this country, only compounding a culture of selfishness and self-survival.  I believe God has a plan to clean up the mess of hopelessness, addiction, despair, poverty, crime, homelessness – the church of Jesus Christ extending the Kingdom of God into the darkness is his solution.  In Jobcare we do this with unemployed people through skills building, providing work and facilitating a job search.  But as important as these practical interventions are, they only go part of the way to meeting the needs of the whole person.  It has always been a high value in Jobcare that people are shown the love of the Father at every point of connection, whether that be when invited to attend a course, preparing to go for an interview, or when they walk through the door.