The Home Page Network

The Janitorial program at Partners in Progress in Mansfield is cleaning up everywhere they go. Kathy Hemling, Janitorial Manager, said her goal is to “Work herself out of a job”. What does she mean by that? She hopes to place every individual who works in the janitorial program into a paying position in the community. There have been many success stories with individuals hired by other janitorial companies, fast food restaurants, factories and more. This is made possible by dedicated job coaches who work alongside the “crewmates”, teaching them how to interact with other employees, how to dress for work and good communication skills.

Currently there are 23 crewmates in the program with 6 supervisors and Kathy as the manager. There are one to three crewmates and a job coach working together on a contracted job. There is no limit to the number of individuals who can participate in the program at a given time. They have teams that work from 7:00 in the morning and teams that work until 9:00 at night. Nighttime work includes transportation for the crew member from and back to their home. Partners is able to obtain special funding to help provide the transportation for the crew members.

This is a busy program with 38 contracts for cleaning services in Mansfield and Wellsboro. They clean for churches, grocery and department stores, factories and offices from 1 to 7 days a week. Customized packages are created for individual contracts. In the summer they even offer window cleaning services. Cleaning services can include cleaning bathrooms, collecting trash, vacuuming , sweeping, mopping and dusting. There is a contract with a grocery store where they wash and wax the floors, plus do a weekly process with a special machine that polishes the floors.

Partners in Progress has three vans that are completely stocked with cleaning supplies at all times and one van that is partially stocked. Some contracts include providing all cleaning supplies, while other contracts may supply their own. Partners makes a conscious choice to use only environmentally safe and natural cleaners.

Home Page Network has been covering the different programs that Partners in Progress offers, including Highland Chocolates, My Neighbors Closet and now their Janitorial program. The positive impact that Partners has is life changing for those in our community with limitations. We hope that someday Kathy really will work herself out of a job!