The all-volunteer Employment Assistance Ministry (EAM) began in 2006 at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Tampa, Florida, initially known as the “In-Between Jobs” Support Group or “Tweeners”.
In 2018, due to risks of COVID, the group was unable to meet in person.
The leaders of the group pivoted and re-engineered its program and services to a virtual format when due to the pandemic St. Paul’s parish was no longer able to provide physical meeting space.
Continuing as an all-volunteer ministry, an operational change occurred in early 2022, and cognizing that the virtual ZOOM format enabled the ministry to help jobseekers from anyplace with an internet connection.
- Rebranding our approach to appeal to individuals that were outside of the parish served by St. Paul’s
- EAM was renamed and no longer appeared as a parish ministry of St. Paul’s. A new website was created by the ministry team (hosted by the Franciscan Center / Tampa) and is now a widely published community partner of:
The EAM continues to operate as it originally did, as a faith-based, spirit-led support group that meets online weekly on Thursday mornings to assist persons who are “In Between Jobs”.
Our evolution allows the ministry to continue its mission of supporting job seekers in and beyond the Tampa Bay area, combining spiritual and support with practical job search assistance in a virtual environment.