On June 29, 2015, the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program replaced the Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment (REA) program and received increased funding that broadened statutory authority allowing funds to be used for reemployment services in addition to services that were previously provided under the REA program. The RESEA Program enhanced the RES Program process by providing customers with one on one intensive service counseling sessions.
The goal of the RESEA program is to keep claimants from exhausting their benefits before moving on to employment and also to reduce the number of weeks claimed and the total benefits paid, thereby resulting in a new savings for the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund. The RESEA Program utilizes claimant demographic data to identify UI recipients who are determined to be at risk of exhausting their benefits before returning to gainful employment. RESEA also provides UI benefits to military veterans who separated under honorable conditions.
Charley Hilton, Jr., an Arkansas Department of Workforce Services (ADWS) employee, serves as the RESEA Specialist in the Arkansas Workforce Center in Benton and does an awesome job. Each month Mr. Hilton provides counseling services for UI recipients to assist them in making realistic employment choices, conducts Job Readiness Workshops in Benton and Pine Bluff, develops employability plans, provides job placement services by making referrals to employers, refers individuals to educational and training programs to enhance their employability skills, and when applicable, refers customers to the Small Business Administration for assistance with developing a business plan to establish their own business.
Mr. Hilton has a remarkable ability to be able to assist customers in finding jobs that pay great wages. In January of 2019, the top three customer on the Central Arkansas Workforce Development Area - Job Placement Report that he assisted obtained employment earning $27.00, $40.86, and $57.69 per hour. In February of 2019 the top three wage earners that he helped began their employment earning $22.57, $30.77, and $37.50 an hour.
UI customers in Saline County are fortunate to have a person with the compassion that Mr. Hilton displays working in the Benton Workforce Center.
