Tanisha Job Training
Found her first placement at the Urban Horizons Fitness Center.
Being in the program was a great experience. My teacher,
Ms. Brown, made people feel valuable, regardless of where they came from.
She showed us that she cared. At one time I was starting to feel down, but
a staff member called me at home to check up on me. She also helped me with
my resume and mock interviews. Doing my first cover letter was a real challenge.
I sat at the computer doing my cover letter and I had never used a computer
before. I was able to learn to use the computer on my own.
In my family there are people who have been on public assistance for 25 or
30 years. And sometimes we copy behavior that we see growing up. I always
thought that when I turned 18, I would just get public assistance. But now
I feel that is not the right attitude to have. I feel that we need to set
good examples for our children. When I was on public assistance I was ashamed,
because here I am, a young person on public assistance. Now that I am an adult
and I have my own children I feel that I want to set an example for them.
Right now I'm very proud of myself. I am no longer on public assistance and
I think that's great.
Janet Amely
Graduate of the Microenterprise Training Program/Culinary
Arts Training Program
(formerly) Employed at the Urban Horizons Food Company
I started out in the Culinary Arts Entrepreneurial Program
in 1998 for about a year and a half. That program helped me set up my baked
goods company, Marvelous Minis and More, in which I did small catering and
gift baskets. The class taught me how to market my product and it taught me
bookkeeping. We had a guest speaker from Columbia Law School who talked about
the legal aspects of running your own business. A guest lecturer also came
to teach us about tax issues.
After that, I moved to the vocational
training program, where I learned-through trial by fire-all the aspects of
working in a commercial kitchen. You learn that there is a method to everything-how
to prepare different meats, sauces-it is not as easy as you would think. I
also got the chance to meet some really good professional staff members through
the program…just some wonderful talented people. I have never met so many
people in one place that are willing to take the time to help you out. I've
even called WHEDCO staff at their homes.
When I graduated I was offered a position at a three star restaurant, but
decided to work at Urban Horizons instead. I wanted to work with other people
who were just starting out and were in the position that I once was.
I think that the students feel that I understand where they are coming from
and have been through before coming here. I grew up in a single parent home,
with no money for clothes, and our power would be cut off because we couldn't
pay the electric bill. I have been on public assistance. I know I make a difference
and change people's perspectives about themselves. People come in with no
self-esteem, and they leave here and do really well.
Found housing and employment through HomeBASE
Anyone who still believes in the
myth that people on welfare don’t want to work should meet Maria. After 12
years in “the system” of welfare and public assistance benefits, Maria is
all too grateful to be working her own way toward a life that is more productive
and satisfying than she’d ever imagined.
The program Maria refers to is HomeBASE
(Building Assets and Securing Employment), a collaborative effort that combines
housing and employment services in one model program. The program is an initiative
of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and
is administered by The Enterprise Foundation. WHEDCO is one of several community-based
organizations throughout the city that is in charge of getting services to
customers.
A single mother of three, Maria talks openly - and
even philosophically - about her life on public assistance and the path that
led her to HomeBASE. Taken out of school at the age of 14 to help support
her family by working in factories (“My parents did what they had to do,”
she says, matter-of-factly), Maria found herself pregnant at a very young
age and was universally counseled to support her child through welfare. “If
I knew better I would have gone to a program that would help young mothers.
Maybe then I wouldn’t have ended up in the system. But that’s the only way
I knew at the time.”
Years passed, and Maria struggled
as well as she could to break out of the system. She even applied for a Section
8 voucher in 1990, but the demand far exceeded the supply and her application
never made it through the system. “That’s how depression kicks in,” Maria
observes, “that’s how you feel you don’t have a chance.” Iit was the building
manager of her last apartment who referred Maria to HomeBASE after receiving
an outreach flyer from Enterprise. “He liked the way I kept my apartment,
and said, `I have a program for you to attend…’” He referred her to WHEDCO.
Four months later, Maria was in
a new apartment in a safer neighborhood where there are after-school programs
for her children. She has completed a computer training program and now works
at WHEDCO - in their HomeBASE program. Maria’s job description at HomeBASE
includes “a little bit of everything,” from filing to keeping records to helping
screen prospective participants. “I don’t just like my job,” she takes great
effort to make clear, “I LOVE my job. Because I feel comfortable, because
I know what I’m doing, I’m respected. I’m not looked down on the way I was
when I was a PA client.”
What Maria sees down the road is
“a better future for me and my children. And I’m showing my children that
school is the main thing.” She just started her first semester of college,
and she’s working to improve her reading and writing skills. When it comes
to her long-range goals, Maria is still considering her options, though she
does “want to get into a field where I could be able to help people.” “When
you live in this life,” Maria says, looking back at where she’s been and where
she’s going, “nobody’s going to give you anything in your hands. You have
to do the hard work. But that’s okay; I’m willing to do it if the resources
are out there.” She’s ready to make a better future for herself and her children,
but “…right now there’s this chance that I have and I’m taking advantage of
the program that is here.”
Jacklyn Joye
CASAWorks For Families
After seven months in the CASAWORKS
for Families program, Jacklyn Joye has a new perspective on recovery, job
training and employment. Jacklyn first came to WHEDCO to participate in Innovations
at Work, a job training and placement program. She soon got a job, but failed
the employer’s drug test. Jacklyn then came to CASAWORKS for treatment and
training and now, seven months later, is ready to begin EPRA, a job program
specifically designed for people in recovery.
“Recovery is what I really want,”
Jacklyn says of her progress in the CASAWORKS program. She is looking forward
to continuing her education and professional training at EPRA which, she feels,
will enable her to “get a career, and not just a job.” Jacklyn lists the ability
to “let go of certain resentments…and take criticism without looking at it
negatively” as an additional benefit of CASAWORKS’ treatment and employment
readiness activities. “I try to participate as much as possible,” she says
of the groups she attends at Casa Rita. “If I want to change and grow, this
is my opportunity.” Looking back on the road that brought her to CASAWORKS,
Jacklyn is optimistic about recovery and how it will affect her future: “It
took me losing the [Innovations at Work} job to get here,” she says. “I had
to lose something to get something back.”
Bernadette
Culinary Arts
Graduate
Employed at
the Dept. of Aging
I've never
really had a real job before. Being on public assistance for so long, I was
afraid of getting back out there, afraid that I wasn't good enough. I was
terrified to go on interviews. But WHEDCO had a lot of confidence in me. They
knew that I was capable of being a team player and being a leader.
The program was very strict. I couldn't
be late or miss any days. We worked in the kitchen practicing recipes, and
two times per week we had resume writing, mock interviews, and workshops on
transitioning from welfare to work. We also learned about food safety. After
two months of training, we did externships at corporations to try to get employment
experience. Our instructors were always there for us.
After about three or four interviews, I was hired in the kitchen at the Department
of Aging. My job is really going smoothly. The WHEDCO staff saw things in
me that I didn't even know I had, and I gained a lot of confidence. I'm on
my own, proving to myself that I can do it, and WHEDCO helped me get there.