Local Christian ministry offers women job-training and self-sufficiency skills

ROCK HILL — In a small back office of the York Baptist Association near the Rock Hill Airport, a nonprofit is working to improve the lives of underprivileged women – and celebrating their results.

The York County Christian Women’s Job Corp. provides employment and financial training, along with spiritual guidance, to women in need of a job.

Carrie Mann and her assistant, Heather Duncan, head up the Christian ministry that was started in 1996 and now serves almost a hundred women in the community every year.

"They [the women] come to us because of the job situations," Duncan said. "They want to get job training; they want to get job interviewing skills. But then through our ministry we are able to teach them about the love of God."

Participants are walked through a program called "Seven Steps Toward Self-Sufficiency," where they take classes and receive one-on-one mentorship to promote financial stability. The classes focus on basic interviewing and computer skills as well as financial assessment and planning. Women are then mentored until they are able to become financially self-sufficient.

The program is free for participants, funded by local churches, individuals, businesses and grants and staffed almost entirely by volunteers.

The women seeking assistance from the Job Corp. come from many different backgrounds, according to Duncan.

"We have some that are right out of high school. We have some that are in their sixties. And a lot of them are just broken women," Duncan said. "A lot of women think that they gotta have their life together before they can come to us. But that’s not what it is about. We want to help them with those things as well. They find. . . grace here. . . they can be loved on."

Pauley Petersheim, a recent graduate of the program, certainly found grace. After moving to Rock Hill from Pennsylvania last year, she enrolled with the Job Corp. because she needed a job.

Ultimately, though, Petersheim ended with much more than just a job at Chik-Fil-A. She found faith.

Petersheim says that the kindness and authenticity displayed by the leaders of the Christian Women’s Job Corp. helped lead her to that faith.

"While being enrolled, they not just cared about preparing us for the work world, but also paying attention to us spiritually," Petersheim explained. "Many times. . . helping us in different ways that had nothing to do with classes."

When Petersheim needed to go to the hospital one day, Job Corp. director Carrie Mann didn’t hesitate to take her.

"I was just having a horrible day," Petersheim explained. "We were in a hospital room and she. . . never left my side. Ultimately, her main focus was me."

This story was originally published July 31, 2016 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Local Christian ministry offers women job-training and self-sufficiency skills."