Supporting Reentry Services – Meet Chelsea Zabski on our Central Missouri team!

Learn about our work as you get to know members of our team! Each team member plays an important part in our overall mission, helping families realize their dreams and achieve economic independence.

Chelsea Zabski serves as the Project Coordinator for our work in Lincoln County, Jefferson City, and Columbia, MO. She joined the team after the COVID-19 pandemic began and has been working remotely since day one. 

Chelsea Zabski
Project Coordinator in Lincoln County, Jefferson City, and Columbia, MO

Supporting Reentry Services as a Project Coordinator

In her role as a Project Coordinator, Chelsea works with our Central Missouri staff members and community partners to help justice-involved individuals advance into living-wage jobs after being released from incarceration. 

Our Central Missouri team grew out of our work inside state and local correctional centers. In 2018 we started providing Personal and Professional Development Trainings inside correctional centers to help individuals build job skills and create holistic plans for navigating reentry. Individuals returning home to the Kansas City or St. Louis areas could then connect with our teams in those regions for ongoing coaching, career services and support. 

But not everyone returns home to a large city with diverse resources. To assist participants returning home to rural, underserved areas, we launched our Central Missouri team serving Boone, Cole, Lincoln, and Warren Counties. Supported by a multi-year grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health, the team provides a range of wraparound services to help participants transition back into the larger community and gain employment.

Celebrating Job Gains

Our job readiness trainings have gone virtual since the pandemic began, and Chelsea recently celebrated with members of our first training cohort in Lincoln County, MO as they finished the three-week training. Almost all alumni of this cohort are now employed or enrolled in an educational program, and one participant is still on the job hunt. Along each step of their career journey, alumni have access to personal support and coaching from staff. 

Staying Focused and Practicing Gratitude

One of Chelsea’s goals is to help others reach their potential. This motivates her in her job as she works with both staff members and participants. She also strives to help others gain hope, knowing hope is needed for achieving goals.  

Since her job is fully remote right now, Chelsea says she stays focused by taking breaks from computer work, walking her dog, and joining other team members for a daily gratitude time each morning. Chelsea shares she is grateful to work with an organization that supports her, other staff and participants in a loving environment.