Published: October 30, 2009 06:16 pm      

Fatherhood Program here to help

The metropolitan Dalton area has an unemployment rate of 12.4 percent, well above the national rate of 9.5 percent. But you wouldn’t know that by the attendance at a career fair held Friday at the Dalton Recreation Center.

“There has been a steady stream of people, but it hasn’t been as large as we thought it would be,” said David Harris, manager of the Georgia Fatherhood Program, which sponsored the event.

A division of the Georgia Department of Human Services Office of Child Support Services, the program works with non-custodial parents, both male and female, who are willing yet unable to pay their support regularly.

The career fair offered a chance for job seekers to talk to employers, social service agencies and officials from job-training programs, as well as an opportunity to get advice on how to prepare their resumes.

“This is a one-stop shop. Employers may not be able to help some of the people here today, but maybe some of these service providers can,” Harris said.

Mitchell Morris of Chatsworth said he has been looking for a job for almost a year.

“I’ve given out so many resumes, but no one seems to be hiring. But there are some opportunities out there,” he said.

Morris said he’d learned at the career fair that Georgia Power has job openings, for instance.

“People who missed this missed some of those opportunities,” he said.

While attendance was sparse, Harris said the event brought in job seekers from as far away as Calhoun and Chattanooga.

Bryan Riddle, executive director of the Great Southern Driving Academy in Tunnel Hill, said the job market for truck drivers is slow.

“But jobs are still out there. The jobs that we find now are mainly long distance. There are a few locals left, but not as many as there used to be,” he said.

Kris Keylon, from the Department of Family and Children Services, said several people had stopped to ask about food stamps, Medicaid and other programs they might qualify for.

“Currently, we don’t have any positions. The state has us under a hiring freeze,” he said.

Harris said the Fatherhood Program tries to do one career fair each month and selected Dalton because unemployment in the area is up 164 percent from last year.

“One thing we always stress is that (joblessness) is just temporary. Temporary may be a year. It may be two years, but it is temporary,” he said.

For more information on the Georgia Fatherhood Program, visit fatherhood.georgia.gov.