FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 25,
2002) – Lee County’s Department of Human Services has won a national “2002
Public Service Excellence Award.”
Department Director Karen Hawes
and Board of Lee County Commissioners Chairman Bob Janes will travel to
Washington, D.C. May 6 to accept the award at the “Breakfast of Champions,”
the event that kicks off Public Service Recognition Week across the country.
The award is given by the
Washington, D.C.-based Public Employees Roundtable, a non-profit, non-partisan
coalition of organizations representing 600,000 public employees working
together for excellence in government and to better inform citizens about the
quality of people in government and the value of the services they provide.
Lee County Human Services won
in the “County” category for its Lee Education and Employment (LEE) Program. Hawes praised case managers Lynn
Northrop and Patricia Howell for their work in the program.
The LEE Program is designed to
rapidly produce a substantial increase in income for low-income working adults
and to provide a career path with future upward mobility.
Participants are provided specialized vocational training through a
contract with Edison Community College. The
vocational training is tailored to the medical office field and prepares
students to work in scheduling, medical records and insurance billing – all
high-demand occupations in Southwest Florida.
The program is funded through
Community Services Block Grants. LEE
participants must be employed but low income (125% of the poverty income
guidelines, which is an annual income of $18,775 for a family of three). They must have a high school diploma or a GED, pass an
entrance exam and be interested in becoming more self-sufficient.
The LEE Program covers all costs for tuition, books, childcare for class
hours (which are at night so participants can continue to work), necessary car
repair and emergency transportation while in school.
More
than 72 people have graduated since initial enrollment in October 1999. Participants’ average wages have increased 80 percent after
graduation. Articles about the
Excellence Award winners will appear in USA
Today and The Washington Times
newspapers on May 6.
Lee
County Human Services provides a complement of integrated services to low-income
families and disadvantaged neighborhoods, including emergency financial
assistance, housing assistance, counseling services, housing rehabilitation,
neighborhood infrastructure improvements and neighborhood building, and services
for the homeless. The department
employs 42 people and has a Fiscal Year 2002 budget of $16.9 million.