POCATELLO — The Salvation Army has set a goal to start a $65,000 program in early July to help cover needs in the community.

These include things such as access to resources for job training, according to Lt. Ernie Evans, who along with wife, Sara, are the officers in charge of the Pocatello Salvation Army headquarters at 400 N. Fourth Ave.

“The one need we see to be the most prevalent during the COVID pandemic has been access to skills and resources for job training and entry level job help,” Evans said.

And he said they are looking for funding for the effort, which would cost $10,000 to $15,000 a year after the initial investment.

He says that access to things like resume building, job qualification testing and online applications require access to a computer with an internet connection that many people still do not have.

“On top of this, skills that were once commonplace like keeping a checkbook, making a household budget and even base-level investment are skills many young people do not even consider,” he said.

After talking with many clients over time they all wish they had more skills in those areas, Evans said.

So he hopes to work with many community partners to open classes of 10 to 12 people per scheduled class to help with such things, he said.

He hopes that help from organizations like local banks and credit unions, and Idaho State University and others could make the program more affordable and achievable.

The program would be similar to a nationwide training and after-school program run by the Salvation Army that has not been available in Pocatello since 1994.

Eventually they hope to have 13 or more computers to aid in training through the program, according to Evans.

The proper handling of credit would be a key part of the program, which they hope could start as soon as the first week of July.

The effort is important because he says that a lot of younger people anymore don’t even know what a checkbook is.

So the Salvation Army is pushing to get grants and donor funding for the program to provide training in those areas, but they need things in place and money in the bank before they can move forward, Evans said.

And they want to try to ensure that they will have continuing funding for the effort.

He says it’s their hope to open classes with 10 to 12 people per scheduled class.

And after the initial $65,000 investment the cost would drop to $30,000 a year in the third year and beyond going down to $16,000 a year with employee costs and overhead.

The goal would be to enroll 150 people the first year and 300 the second year with five success stories from the first year, according to Evans.

But they’re still working on donations of computers, keyboards, mice and other technology.

“And we will still need things like a classroom overhead projector and a security system for the lab,” Evans said.

Plus, once participants have taken an accounting class they would be invited into nutrition building-and-budgeting classes to show how to eat healthy meals on a budget and vice versa.

This will be run by Eat Smart Idaho, which is a University of Idaho Extension program, and will be a family friendly classroom according to Evans.

”Nutrition has always been at the top of our list,” he said. “We want clients who are coming in to get a food box to still know there are healthy options at a low cost.”

And Evans said by August the Salvation Army would hope to have a working youth-focused version of the computer lab program using STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) if all goes well.

He says they want to give young people the opportunity to tinker in science, engineering and technology.

And the program will have an art element, too, so it will really be more STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.

“We have some lofty but achievable goals,” Evans said.