Mormon Church

In December, 2009, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes called Mormons, announced that 40,000 people had so far been helped by a unique program known as the Perpetual Education Fund. The program began in 2001, the brainchild of former Mormon president Gordon B. Hinckley.

President Hinckley noticed that young people from developing nations grew tremendously during their missions. Young men who are at least nineteen and young women who are at least twenty-one can choose to serve missions for the church. Men serve for two years, and women serve for eighteen months. They are sent to a place far from home that the church selects. These young people often learn a new language. They are given training in a variety of skills that can translate into job skills, including leadership and motivational skills. They learn proper grooming and learn to look and act professionally. However, when they returned home to their villages, they were unable to put those new skills to work because they lacked education.

President Hinckley recalled an early church program from the pioneer days, when Brigham Young was the president of the Church. President Young arranged for the Church to pay the costs of moving to Utah for some Church members. Those people repaid the loan when they were settled and that repayment was used to help others moved. It was known as the Perpetual Emigration Fund, because each person helped restocked the fund for the next person. President Hinckley realized the same process could be used to provide educations for those in the poorest countries, where normal avenues of help, such as scholarships and loans from traditional sources, are not available. The program helps young people, most often returned missionaries, receive training in a job skill while remaining at home, helping to ensure they will use those skills in their own communities. Currently, the program focuses on technical schools, in order to help them begin supporting their families quickly, but may later be expanded to include education in professions.

Candidates for the program are interviewed for their worthiness and ability to benefit from the program. The recommendations are sent to Salt Lake City, where a volunteer, an Emeritus General Authority (a somewhat retired high level church leader) runs the program. The money is sent directly to the school. Unlike most charities, the program required no new large division, since the only staff is a secretary and an administrator. Costs are minimal, since future money comes from repayment, which is very high, and donations from Church members eager to assist others.

“It is affordable. We have enough money, already contributed, to fund the initial operation. It will work because it will follow priesthood lines and because it will function on a local basis. It will deal with down-to-earth skills and needed fields of expertise. Participation in the program will carry with it no stigma of any kind, but rather a sense of pride in what is happening. It will not be a welfare effort, commendable as those efforts are, but rather an education opportunity. The beneficiaries will repay the money, and when they do so, they will enjoy a wonderful sense of freedom because they have improved their lives not through a grant or gift, but through borrowing and then repaying. They can hold their heads high in a spirit of independence. The likelihood of their remaining faithful and active throughout their lives will be very high” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Perpetual Education Fund,” Liahona, Jul 2001, 60–62, 67.)

The Church has long provided employment assistance to Church members in other forms. Each ecclesiastical unit has an employment specialist who is available to train people in how to write resumes, search for work, and successfully interview for positions. They maintain lists of jobs available and Church members who become aware of positions in their own companies report them to these specialists. The Church’s official website offers free online advice to anyone of any faith in job search skills. There is a professional placement program for those who have worked as managers and professionals. There are also workshops for people at any career level.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, where there are high concentrations of members, Deseret Industries provides work experience and training for those who might otherwise have a great deal of difficulty finding work, including women who suddenly find themselves the head of household, those with special challenges, and people who don’t speak English. English language training is a component of the program for those who need it, as is literacy training.

The Church counsels members to become self-reliant as far as possible. This allows them to care for themselves and their families without assistance and to be prepared for emergencies. By providing the necessary skills and training, the Church follows the old adage, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” Rather than perpetuating a need for charity, the Church believes in providing temporary assistance that sustains life while the skills needed to become self-reliant are taught. Those who take advantage of all the programs the church has to offer soon find themselves prepared to hold their heads high in pride as they earn what they need and live a life they might once have believed possible. The Church offers assistance in employment, literacy, English language, parenting, and basic homemaking skills. Many of the volunteer positions church members hold teach leadership, people, and organizational skills that are later used in employment.

Tags: educational programs, employment, Humanitarian Aid, job training, Mormon employment, Mormon humanitarian, Perpetual Education Fund

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 7:33 am and is filed under Array. You can follow any responses to this entry through the /feed feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.