Because transportation has been a challenge for many of our participants and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future ReEngage, Inc. will now begin to accept the donation of automobiles under our new “Cars for Careers” program. These automobiles will not be resold for the money, but instead will be used to provide a low-cost alternative to our men who have transportation challenges. Unfortunately, the construction trade is a very mobile career and those who want to participate must be able to move from job site to job site with relative ease which requires reliable transportation. Also, as we expand our business model to include warehouse and light assembly transportation will again be crucial because the majority of these positions lie outside the urban core.

So if you have a vehicle that will require minimal repairs or you are just not using, please consider donating it to ReEngage, Inc. We are a registered 501(c)3 not for profit so your donation will be tax deductible. We have limited resources so we cannot accept junk cars or cars that need major repairs. Our participants will have limited resources initially so we would prefer cars that get decent gas mileage to reduce the burden on our men. If you do not have a vehicle but would still like to participate in our Cars for Careers program we will be accepting donations to pay for the initial costs of taxes, titles, and insurance.

These cars will not be given to our participants but will be available at a reduced cost through a loan program. In order to participate the person would have to be a graduate of “The Man Class©” program and employed. At ReEngage, Inc. we believe in a hand-up and not a hand-out. To donate a vehicle please contact ReEngage, Inc. at 816.931.4751 X112, please leave a message if no one answers. Thank you for your continued support as we seek to transform males into men one life at a time.

I’ve always believed and understood that the key to real and sustained transformation in the men we work with has been and always will be employment. While the tools we provide them are invaluable and can lead to a more successful and productive life without an opportunity at the end of the day the negative forces that so many of these guys struggle against daily will once again overtake them. That is why my number one goal and mission is finding employment opportunities for these guys.

I remember them from the time they first showed up looking bewildered and troubled until the day they graduated looking confident and ready to take on the world. Over the course of the three weeks we build trust and bonds to one another and so it is extremely difficult for me when they call asking if I have located any opportunities for them because they are ready or that they really need it. I cannot express my frustration when I see the guys at our weekly support group or get a call from one of them just “checking in” on the progress of my efforts. After witnessing the transformation that many of them made just to get to this point I am inspired every day to continue to press on.

If we are going to redevelop the urban core of our major cities we need to answer the question of employment opportunity for these men. The difficulty is of course that as a nation we have not done an adequate job of developing a national employment policy and my fear is that the current employment numbers are the new normal or worse that they will continue to increase. You would think that the employment of our people and developing a pathway out of poverty through employment would be a priority; unfortunately instead what we have been given is political dysfunction. My fear is that what the top 5%’s doesn’t understand is that unless there is a large buffer between them and the rest of the country there will be chaos and anarchy which benefits none of us. We cannot and should not become a society that has disposable human beings who are not allowed to contribute to society.

We were all created with value that is inherited from our Creator. We were all created to do great things with talents and abilities. It does not benefit any of us to allow those gifts and talents to go unused. Does anyone believe that we are so overflowing with talent that we can just allow our fellow citizens to not participate in our economy and society? As we become a more aging population and the baby boomers continue to retire at record numbers we are going to need all hands on deck participating in this economy to maintain even some semblance of our current lifestyles.

We at ReEngage believe we have one solution to the challenges that have historically prevented some members of our community from fully participating in our economy. However, the final judgment will be in the employment numbers. Our success will in large part be based on how many people we were able to get employed. If you would like to support or join our efforts, please consider using our staffing services company for your next temporary workers. We provide highly motivated and reliable workers. We provide our customers with flexibility and many value added services.

Please check out our new ReEngage Staffing Services website. Find out about our services, opportunities, and latest news.

ReEngage Staffing Services is the new employment division of ReEngage, Inc. ReEngage Staffing Services provides our customers with qualified, motivated, and dependable people to meet their long-term or short-term staffing needs. Please consider sharing the good news about ReEngage Staffing Services and if possible consider using us as your next staffing service.

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Parker Young, Straub Construction Jim Nichols, The Dalmark Group, Rodney Knott, ReEngage,Inc.

Please check out the new ReEngage Staffing Services page at ReEngage Staffing Services. Find out the advantages for using ReEngage Staffing Services for your employment needs. We provide reliable, competent, and highly motivated employees that are ready to work. As ReEngage employees we mitigate the risks for employers who want to employ high risk employees by providing liability insurance, workman’s compensation, and our own payroll service. If you have ever considered hiring local residents who may have issues that may have prevented you from extending employment, please check out ReEngage Staffing Services.

Cycle 2 – Kansas City

ReEngage Kansas City and Reconciliation Services – FOCUS KC is proud to announce the graduation of our second cycle of men Friday May 10, 2013. The graduation will be held at 3101 Troost at 3:00pm. If you have the opportunity please come out and support and welcome these men back into the community. These men have worked extremely hard and we are enormously proud of these men and look forward to their joining our staffing company and becoming productive and engaged men in our community. We would like to thank our benefactors The Dalmark Group and Straub Construction Company for their generous contributions to enable us to continue to provide this training to the men of our community who are willing to work hard and participate in positive change.

Cycle 2 – Kansas City

Here are the guys from our second cycle here in Kansas City. Stay tuned for more information about this group. I am excited because while this group appears to be one of the more challenging groups, they also are one with a lot of potential. I am always amazed at the transformation that takes place for those men who are willing to become honest about themselves and who are ready to participate in positive change. Let the adventure begin.

Recent graduates of the Man Class(c).

ReEngage, Inc. is proud to announce our next cycle of the Man Class© training beginning on April 22, 2013 and concluding with our graduation on May 10, 2013. This will be the 2^nd cycle of 2013 and we are excited to partner with Reconciliation Services to provide this vital training. Our gratitude continues to go to the Dalmark Group for continuing its partnership with ReEngage, Inc. and funding to this innovative and successful training model.

The classes will be held at our 31^st & Troost location and will be held Monday through Friday from 9-3 for 3 weeks. Included in the training will be OSHA 10 safety training and Hazardous Material handling to prepare our graduates for employment with our corporate partners, also those who qualify will become Section 3 certified. Please stay tuned for continuing updates as we fulfill our mission of transforming males into men and now also providing employment opportunities and develop a truly innovative model for replication.

First 6 ReEngage Staffing employees at Bancroft site.

Week one of the ReEngage Staffing Service first project is in the books and despite some early challenges we finished the week on a positive note. The guys are slowly rounding into form after many of them having been unemployed for years. Construction is a tough business and if you have been away for a while it takes some getting used to. But our guys hung in there and completed their 1st week and are looking forward to many more weeks and months to come. As I shared with the men now is the time where we put all of that talk and training into action. Unfortunately, so often people claim to want work until they have to work and then not so much. I told the guys to remember what they felt like during those weeks of training when they were willing to do just about anything to get to work. Well, now you are working so let’s see what you got.

Overall the week was successful and the employer and the guys are getting accustomed to each other and working out the bugs. I visited the job site throughout the week and was encouraged by the commitment of the employees of Straub and our graduates. I think this will be a strong partnership that leads to more opportunities in the future. Keep up the good work guys and remember to get plenty of rest!

Recent graduate Mr. Otis C.’s before and after photo.

If you stay in this business long enough you will have your heart broken. It never fails when you think you know someone is going to make it and in your heart you are pulling for them to make it and all of a sudden they regress or they relapse and your heart is torn apart. But then there are those times when you get the opportunity to see someone change right in front of you and it makes up for all the times when your heart gets broken. It reminds me of the delicate balance between the pain of childbirth and the joy of the birth that a woman feels and how that pain is forgotten when she sees the beauty of the baby.

I had the chance this cycle to witness that transformation in one of our participants, who I will refer to as Mr. Otis C. Otis’ background unfortunately is all too common for too many males in our community. He was born to a single mother without knowledge of who his father was and a mother that had to spend too much time away from her kids working. Otis was born and raised in Kansas City and basically was raised by the streets. His male role models were the street hustlers and thugs he met on the streets who taught him to be hard hearted and cold. Otis entered the Man Class© with a lot of anger and a lack of self-esteem. While he was able to graduate from high school, he had no direction and was just wandering through life from one day to the next. This lack of a vision for one’s life is condemning too many in our community to this day to day survival mode which makes progress and movement very difficult.

As the sessions continued you could see day by day the hardness and anger in Otis slowly dissipate and he became more willing to open up and be honest with himself. One of the obstacles to change is an unwillingness that many have to self-honesty and self-reflection. One of the unfortunate consequences of the civil rights movement was this attitude promoted by certain leaders that a person’s behavior was dependent on the behavior of others, so that if others were wrong then I could be wrong until they got right. The problem with this philosophy is that it assumes two wrongs make a right which we all know is a flawed philosophy. If I am not responsible for my actions, but they are dependent on the actions of others then I have no responsibility to change or to improve. The consequences of this flawed thinking are evident throughout our community in the devaluation of education, drug and alcohol abuse, and the epidemic of unmarried births.

By the time graduation arrived Otis was engaged and participating in the sessions and was remarkably lucid and provided thoughtful comments during discussions. Otis is now gainfully employed and expecting his first child. He is more positive about his future and the future of his family. It is gratifying to see a life change because you know that it will have a rippling effect not just on the individual but also on their family and their community.

So, if anyone asks you why does he do it you can just point to Otis and the countless others that ReEngage reaches and help to find within themselves that gift we were all given. I am not so arrogant to believe that three weeks with me will change anyone’s life, but my hope is that we are able to start a spark which the individual will fan and nurture into a flame that ignites our community.

First 6 ReEngage Staffing employees at Bancroft site.

ReEngage Staffing Services is proud to announce our first 6 placements. Beginning on Monday April 1^st, 2013, 6 graduates of our 1^st Man Class cycle of 2013 began work at the Bancroft Project. We are so proud of these men who have been long-term unemployed getting back to productivity and bringing not only new economic activity but also community engagement back into our community. With the help of our business partners we hope to have 50 men employed by the end of this year. This employment project has occurred completely with private investment. It is unfortunate that our city leaders and community foundations have chosen to follow and not lead in this integral part of neighborhood revitalization. Hopefully, someday they will recognize that the status quo is broken and that we must innovate to bring badly needed change to the east side of Kansas City.

Congratulations guys and keep up the good work!