Liz Honeyman moved to Oklahoma City two years ago desperate to change the path she was on.
Struggles with substance misuse and homelessness led to failed stints in rehabilitation and sober living facilities. An abusive living situation in Texas was the final straw, and she moved to Oklahoma City overnight with only the clothes on her back.
“Whatever my next step — my next season — I’m ready for it,” she remembers telling herself. Two weeks later a sober living facility connected her to the opportunity she was looking for.
“I was presented with SidexSide,” says Honeyman, who now works for the OKC-based nonprofit as a career navigator. “I wasn’t getting any healthier before because I didn’t know that I lacked the things I learned here at SidexSide.”
The nonprofit’s workforce program helps people develop the professional and life skills needed to secure and maintain a stable career. SidexSide connects individuals who face obstacles to employment, such as prior addiction or justice system involvement, to local employers in need of talented employees.
With the help of a grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, SidexSide is expanding its workforce program. The investment is part of BCBSOK’s Blue Impact℠ grant program, which supports organizations addressing social and economic factors that affect health.
In 2025, BCBSOK awarded more than $993,000 in Blue Impact grants to 21 nonprofits, working to improve the lives of Oklahomans. That includes Pivot OKC and its work helping young people land jobs and secure stable housing, and Oklahoma State University Foundation’s BSN summer program designed to prepare students from disadvantaged backgrounds for nursing careers.
“This grant reflects our commitment to strengthening pathways to stability and self-sufficiency,” says Brooke Townsend, BCBSOK director of Community Affairs. “SidexSide is doing critical work to help individuals like Liz in our community overcome barriers to employment, and we are proud to support the expansion of their workforce program so more people can build sustainable careers and brighter futures.”
Individuals are referred to SidexSide through one of 23 community partners, which range from sober living facilities to diversion programs to respite shelters. During nine weeks of training, participants learn workplace skills from local and national partners while gaining real-world experience with a local employer.
At the same time, participants consistently meet with one another and partake in one-on-one sessions with their career navigator to better understand and navigate past traumas or personal issues.
“We set out to do something different when we started SidexSide, which was not just help people have a polished resume and nice clothes to land a job but gain the tools to keep that job,” says CEO Chad Jordan. “If we're not unpacking the past, if we're not navigating our trauma, it doesn't matter how many jobs we can help people get, they’ll never be able to keep that job.”
Now in its sixteenth cohort, SidexSide places 94% of graduates in a stable job and 91% retain employment one year later.
Honeyman has been helping people start their own careers for nearly two years. The skills she’s gained in the program help others find their own career path and provided Honeyman with the capacity to overcome losing her apartment in a fire.
“That’s something that would have cost me my recovery,” she says. “I’ve grown into something I really never imagined, and I have to pinch myself sometimes.”
