The Employment Opportunity and Training Center reaches the quarter-century milestone with a storied history, a legacy of success and new objectives.
"We have a lot to be grateful for," said Sharon McCrone, Ph.D., executive director of the EOTC since its founding in 1988. "It is not time for us to look only backward. ... Where are we going next?"
Tracing the Lackawanna County program's origins to a pilot project assisting mothers transitioning from welfare to work, EOTC also provides displaced worker training, family and parenting programs, court-supervised parent-child visitation, foster-care assistance, youth development and educational mentoring, post-release services for former prison inmates and other programs.
EOTC, which was established as a nonprofit on Jan. 4, 1988, began with a three-person staff and an annual budget of $50,000. Today, it employs 47 people at its 18,000-square-foot West Scranton headquarters and has an operating budget of $1.7 million - weathering about eight years of no state funding increases.
"The changes have been phenomenal," said Colin Holmes, director of the Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging.
Mr. Holmes was a member of the original board at EOTC, when he was director of human services for the county, and he served two terms as board president in the 1990s.
"It has been a tremendous asset to the community over the years," Mr. Holmes said. "It is something I am proud to say I was associated with."
The agency evolved from the Women's Employment Program, which was started in 1986 with $50,000 from Scranton's federal community development money. The program was among the first in the state to assist mothers who received public assistance to obtain child care, find a job and secure transportation between home and work.
"We didn't even have a telephone," recalled Elizabeth Milder Beh, a Moscow-area resident who was the project coordinator for the program. "The first intelligent thing I did was hire Sharon McCrone immediately."
Dr. McCrone, who left a position at Marywood University to join the fledgling agency, recalled, "We could all fit in one room."
That room was located at the former Park Plaza Apartments on the 200 block of North Washington Avenue, and the program was associated with the Voluntary Action Center.
"In the first two weeks we advertised the program, we got 60 calls from women," recalled Ms. Beh, who soon became Gov. Robert P. Casey's adviser on child-care issues and later was chief executive at Maternal & Family Health Services Inc. in Wilkes-Barre.
"Parenting really was an employment barrier," said Dr. McCrone, who took over when Ms. Beh joined the Casey administration. After becoming an independent nonprofit, EOTC occupied several locations before settling in at the Kane Building in the 100 block of North Washington Avenue in 1991.
As the agency grew and expanded its services, EOTC's offices became dispersed in different locations. In 2004, it purchased the former Lewis & Reif Inc. electrical supply company building at 431 N. Seventh Ave.
The agency, though, remained in the Kane Building until July 2011, as the West Scranton building was reconfigured into an environmentally progressive structure. The property also includes two parking lots, a green space and an outdoor play area for children.
"We have brought, easily, $3 million into this neighborhood," Dr. McCrone said as she sat in an office appointed by furniture recycled from the Kane Building. "It's really wonderful to have everything under one roof here. Over the course of a month, we have about 3,000 people come through this building."
Social agencies have suffered cuts in government financing in recent years as demand for services has expanded.
"We have not had an increase in funding in about eight years," Dr. McCrone said. "We have to be conscientious of every single dollar we get. It is a challenge every day."
Meanwhile, the need for EOTC's services continues to mount.
"We have waiting lists for our programs," Dr. McCrone said. "The numbers are higher and the wait period is longer."
The agency, which also receives assistance from community foundations and individual contributions, plans to raise $250,000 for its 25th anniversary. It will kick off the fund drive with a public reception on Friday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at its headquarters.
EOTC also plans to expand services to military veterans and their families and start a program to help former female prison inmates rebuild their lives.
"If people have new tools for life, they can make new choices," Dr. McCrone said.
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com