Second Chance Employer Profile

Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park

Out of its 43 state parks, Kentucky has 17 what it calls state resort parks, which means they offer lodging, food service and activities. Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park in western Kentucky is one of these. The village was the site of housing for construction workers who built Kentucky Dam, which was completed in 1944 and created a lake that is 184 miles long and has 2,300 miles of shoreline.

The state park includes a campground with 75 sites, as well as a 72-room main lodge, a 14-room smaller lodge and 60 condos. Among facilities are a full-service restaurant, a 400-slip marina and a Perry Maxwell-designed golf course. The resort hosts vacationers, family reunions and conferences. It has 50 to 60 year-round full-time employees and another 60 seasonal employees. Jobs cover everything needed to keep a resort and state park running – from waitstaff and housekeeping to front desk managers, golf specialists and a full maintenance crew.

Second chance hiring practices 

Like many other business managers, Scot Ratzlaff, Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park’s resort park manager, turned to second chance hiring because he had difficulty finding employees.

“We were short staffed just like the entire hospitality industry around the world coming out of covid,” he says. “We were looking for new opportunities to hire people who can interact with the guests. My wife works for the Dept. of Corrections. She said, ‘You should talk to second chance and see what they can do.’ And I said, ‘What is second chance?’

Since that initial conversation, Ratzlaff has hired six second chance employees and plans to hire more.

He works with the Kentucky Department of Corrections, which supplies candidates and arranges wrap around services. According to Kristin Porter, the DOC’s director of reentry services, “Employment efforts begin before release by focusing on efforts with the Jobs on Day One project. If needed, a client is set up with employment assistance and a potential job interview before being released from custody,” she says.

“This project fits hand in hand with the collaboration the Department of Corrections has with the Kentucky State Parks. If a State Park has a job opening at a location near where a client is being released to, they can be connected with employment immediately after release from custody with a job at the local state park.”

Besides Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park, five other Kentucky state parks have hired employees through DOC channels. This has proved beneficial for the state of Kentucky, as well as for those leaving its state prisons. “In 2023, Kentucky announced a historic low recidivism rate for the Commonwealth of 27.15%,” Porter says.

Although candidates are referred by the DOC, they must go through a rigorous screening process and, like all employees, a background check. After the background check comes back, Ratzlaff has a discussion with them to learn their story.

“We’re really concerned about the safety of our guests,” says Ratzlaff. “We also screen employees to see if they can effectively interact with the guests. We provide five-star service even though we aren’t a five-star facility. We have people from all over the world who come and stay at Kentucky Dam Village.”

Ratzlaff says his second chance hiring efforts are still in the early stages. “We’ve been very selective. But we’ve also been able to fill positions that had been empty for a long time. One of the two current second chance employees is a baker, which the resort hasn’t had in several years,” he adds.

The challenge of second chance hires, for Ratzlaff, isn’t all that different than for other employees. “The challenge is trying to find the right person for the right job,” he says. “It’s qualifying the individual when you’re hiring them. It requires just a little bit more qualification (i.e., their record has to be carefully checked out).”

Although he’s still relatively new at second chance hiring, Ratzlaff has discovered the experience to be rewarding. He finds it satisfying to hire people who really want the jobs they’re offered.

“I got into this business 25-30 years ago because I wanted to help people have a good time,” he says. “The fun part in working with the people in second chance is to see that they are having fun. I want to have a good time too, and that’s part of it. It’s also the satisfaction of running a quality experience for the guests who come to Kentucky Dam Village. “

To learn more about Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park

https://parks.ky.gov/explore/kentucky-dam-village-state-resort-park-7793