Khaid Jones, the president and CEO for Community Cultivators Inc. calls his organization a grass roots effort “that cares about its community.” The first big initiative for Community Cultivators was a late July street rally and job fair in northwest Roanoke, when around a dozen companies screened applicants and talked to local residents about job opportunities. To date more than a dozen have found work as a result, many with Arkay Packaging.
Jones said it’s all about uplifting people, helping to get them ready for the world. Jones says there are a number of avenues to help do that, starting with more job training so people who need work can acquire the skills necessary. Steady employment helps “bring the family structure together … so we can all be moving in a positive direction.”
Jones said the turnout for the job rally was “awesome,” with some asking for the event to happen at least twice a year. “People are ready to [work]. They just don’t have the resources [sometimes].” Jones also said some doubted the wisdom of having a job fair on Melrose Avenue northwest – a part of Roanoke that is heavily minority-populated as well – but the outcome – hundreds screened for jobs as they also enjoyed food, music and fellowship – proved it was worthwhile.
Training for jobs is crucial – Jones is setting up his own barbering school and another man, Kelly Akers, will teach masonry to those interested in the area. Welding and HVAC skills training is also a possibility soon. The first step is to make sure everyone has the “minimal education level,” needed said Jones in order to take those courses, “so they can move on to the next level.”
The next step for Jones himself may be on the political level – talking to Roanoke City Council and to local state lawmakers, seeking more funds for training courses perhaps. “We are doing everything we can do to prepare us to have that conversation – trying to get the funds moving.” In a part of Roanoke City often beset by crime – higher than in other quadrants of the city typically – Jones said the issue really isn’t crime – it is poverty. “We can’t move forward on anything else [first].”
By Gene Marrano
