Nonprofit Director of the Year, 2014 Pillar Awards, Northeast Ohio
Jill Rizika
Executive director
Towards Employment
www.towardsemployment.org
Strategic focus
Led by Executive Director Jill Rizika, Towards Employment annually connects more than 500 people with criminal backgrounds and/or low income to good jobs. The organization has placed more than 5,500 individuals in jobs under Rizika’s eight years of leadership.
She leveraged her more than 25 years of experience in planning, managing and evaluating programs to overcome civic barriers and empower the economically disadvantaged. She transformed a job retention program into a social enterprise that generates earned income for the agency, doubling the number of people placed in jobs over the past three years.
Of note is the Networks 4 Success, which works specifically with adults who have criminal histories. The four-week job readiness workshop enlists past clients to help transitioning adults build a range of skills. Networks 4 Success also provides legal services for participants to get through barriers to finding a job. In 2013, 290 employers hired from Towards Employment, 80 of them more than once.
Through a grant from Living Cities and in partnership with University Hospital, Towards Employment developed a program to assist Greater University Circle residents in obtaining employment in one of the community’s anchor institutions. Towards Employment worked with local stakeholders to recruit interested neighborhood residents into a job readiness process to prepare them to obtain and keep a job at UH.
For her efforts, Rizika was honored as a White House Champion for Change, which recognizes those who do extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their community.
