The OIC Motto:  OIC helps people help themselves

The OIC Vision: OIC will be the premier provider of GED preparation and of job training and job placement in Middle Tennessee.

The OIC Mission:  OIC enables those who are ready and willing achieve a better quality of life by getting a job or a better job.

Having a good, steady job can move a person from a condition of despair and degradation to independence and a feeling of self-worth. The person may be able to escape homelessness or move out of a crime-ridden project. The effect extends beyond the individual. When someone enters the workforce or gets a better job, he or she begins making a greater contribution to his or her family and to society as a whole rather than being a burden. For ex-offenders and for persons who have in the past been addicted, the chance to live a life free from crime and alcohol or drugs has even greater rewards but also greater challenges.

Here’s how it works. With a counselor/instructor, the customer plans his or her own program. The program generally follows five steps: Assessment; Life Skills Training, including basic math and literacy; Job Skills Training; Placement; and Follow-up. When making the assessment, the counselor/instructor and the person look at the person as an individual. Early in the process the customer develops a resume, which helps him or her understand what are likely to be barriers to getting a job so that he or she can address these barriers. All learning is self-paced. The customer may reach his or her objective in a short time or it may take longer, but there is no time limit at OIC. Every program is broken into modules so that the customer knows exactly what progress he or she is making.

The late Reverend Leon H. Sullivan founded Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) in 1964 in Philadelphia. What began in an abandoned jailhouse has grown to a movement that trains the unskilled, unemployed and disadvantaged in 95 communities throughout the United States and also in Africa. In 1968, the vision of OIC spread to Nashville when the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, in response to an urgent request from the African-American community, founded Nashville OIC. Since that time, Nashville OIC has trained thousands, giving them the skills that will allow them to reach a productive and self-sufficient existence, and has placed more than 50% of them into jobs.

What is the significance of the name Opportunities Industrialization Center? Certainly “opportunity” is what OIC is about and “center” is where learning takes place. “Industrialization” sets OIC apart. When a country moves from an agrarian society to an industrial society, it is industrializing. While “industry” historically referred to manufacturing, today we have a banking industry and a healthcare industry and a fast-foods industry. An individual becomes industrialized when the person is able to hold a job in today’s fast-moving economy. When you think about industrialization, think about China. Think about the Asian Tigers. Think what they have accomplished by putting people to work who were before doing little or nothing. Think how industrialization transformed their society. Countries that are putting their people to work are booming. Industrialization.

Until July 1, 2003 OIC had for many years served only persons referred by the Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS). Due to the changing needs in Nashville and after a comprehensive review of the needs of all who are unemployed and underemployed in our community, Nashville OIC developed a new and aggressive strategic vision. Through several steps in our strategic planning process we reinforced OIC’s continuing mission of empowering participants to succeed in the workplace by teaching the life and work skills necessary for them to earn a living wage independently. Today less than 10% of OIC’s revenue comes from government sources. The transition from serving only persons on welfare to serving the greater community has meant replacing the decreased government funding with non-governmental sources.

Nashville OIC is registered with Giving Matters, an initiative of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. For more information regarding OIC, go to www.givingmatters.com and put “OIC” in the space for “Keywords.