A new program offers up to $4,000 for qualifying adults in 11 Missouri counties who want to further their education or complete a degree.

“Jump Start Your Future” is a partnership of the Northeast Missouri Workforce Development Board, Connections to Success and the not-for-profit North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC).

The deadline to register is Oct. 31. Applicants must be 18 or older and meet income guidelines. Those who receive food stamps, have gotten unemployment payments in the past or are currently displaced from a job automatically qualify.

The program covers Lewis, Lincoln, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Ralls, Randolph, Shelby and Warren. Additional assistance and client monitoring will be available.

“The importance of this partnership is that we’ll be providing follow-up services,” said Northeast Missouri Workforce Development Board Executive Director Diane Simbro. “We’re going to follow up to make sure they have what they need to be successful.”

“Jump Start Your Future will provide determined individuals with the skills and resources necessary to achieve economic stability and create successful futures for themselves and their families,” said Connections to Success Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Kathy Lamber. “We’re putting their dreams into action.”

“We are so excited about this partnership and the opportunity for people to dream big dreams and achieve them,” added NECAC Deputy Director for Housing Development Programs Carla Potts. “Our three organizations are devoted to helping more people succeed, and this program is one more route to doing that.”

Alison Ross of Hannibal is a 32-year-old single mother working toward a bachelor’s degree with a major in business and a minor in education through Moberly Area Community College. She says Jump Start Your Future is a great opportunity because there are always costs not covered by other assistance programs.

“To me, it feels like the way you look at things and what is around you – that is going to push you to better yourself and better your life, and get to the point where you want to be versus where you’re at now,” Ross said.

The program is funded through a $458,000 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant awarded to Workforce Development. Here’s how it will work:

• NECAC will take applications and refer them to Workforce and Connections. Those who qualify will be given a career or training assessment by Workforce.

• Connections to Success will hold professional development and job readiness, starting in September.

• Workforce, Connections and NECAC will work with clients to enroll them in college, trade school or training programs done in-person or virtually. Applicants will also be referred to NECAC Community Services for intake assessments and possible program assistance.

• Maximum annual income to qualify is $19,140 for one person; $25,860 for a two-person household; $32,580 for three people; $39,300 for four; $46,020 for five; and $52,740 for six.

Workforce Development offers training in child development, healthcare, professional development, business and computer technology, bookkeeping and accounting, retail management, welding, truck driving and other trades. It also has additional funding to help with child care, transportation and the purchase of work-related clothing or tools.

Connections inspires people to realize their dreams and achieve economic stability by providing hope, resources and a plan. A holistic approach includes employability skills training, parenting and relationship training, life transformation coaching and job development and placement, with an emphasis on building social capital to promote success in all aspects of life.

NECAC administers more than 60 social service, community health and public housing programs that help thousands of low-income, elderly, young, disabled and disadvantaged people in 12 Missouri counties. The agency offers home ownership training, rent assistance, home weatherization, life skills classes and other programs.

Simbro believes Jump Start Your Future could be the foundation for additional efforts aimed at improving people’s lives.

“I feel like this is just the beginning of building this partnership into many other types of programs,” she said.

For more information, or to apply, call NECAC Housing Development at 573-324-6622.