The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center and Experience Works need a few good people interested in working — specifically, people age 55 or older.

MHIC is a non-profit dedicated to preserving the multi-cultural heritage and history of Maxville, a former Wallowa County logging town with a significant African-American population. Experience Works (formerly Green Thumb) is a federally funded job training program for low-income senior workers.

Janet Standeford, the Experience Works representative for the region, said, “We work with government agencies or 501c3 agencies. We assign volunteers to qualifying agencies for training. The agency doesn’t pay them anything; we pay the workers directly for the time they put in. We also work with employers to promote hiring of our participants.”

Participants need to meet several criteria, including: age 55 or older, unemployed, income 125 percent or less of poverty level, and residency within the county where applying, among other criteria. Standeford added the program runs on a “first come-first served” basis, although veterans receive priority.

EW analyzes the applicant’s current skill level and their job goal, and compares those to what host agencies can offer. Standeford said agencies offer a wide range of training, such as administrative, janitorial and even grant-writing. EW sees applicants from all walks of life, particularly people unable to perform physically demanding jobs.

EW monitors placed applicants for three to six months to see if clients make a good fit with their host agency. Those clients not making a good fit get transferred to another host agency. EW also encourages upward mobility by asking a host agency to provide more training if a client wishes to pursue higher career goals than they started with. “Most host agencies are ready and willing to give that opportunity,” Standeford said.

Clients can receive up to four years of training although Standeford said the goal is to get clients trained and in the job market within 18 months. EW trainees earn Oregon minimum wage ($9.25/hr) and work an average of 20 hours per week.

Applicants need not worry if they have lagging computer skills. EW puts such clients through a rigorous computer training program to get them up to par.

MHIC Executive Director Gwendolyn Trice started the program in November 2014 and works 21 hours per week at minimum wage while receiving project manager training through Experience Works. “We’re actually looking for two positions. We need someone immediately, and another for when I start getting paid by the center in April (through a staffing grant by the Meyer Memorial Trust). This way we’ll have two people working opposite each other,” Trice said.

Trice built a job description as an administrative assistant that she submitted to Experience Works. The goal is to pull in people familiar with those job skills and who are flexible and teachable. “As they work with me and the other volunteers who come, they’ll learn more about the work we do. We want them to fall in love with what we’re doing from the inside out,” Trice said.

To participate or learn more about the EW program as either client or employer, phone 541-850-4573.