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Paulette Bush went through most of her life wondering just what her calling was. With the help of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program, she was able to create a career from a desire to experience something more out of life.
Shantia, a young woman in Toledo, Ohio, used a Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program to help make her own luck and develop her own opportunity for a better life.
Growing up in a dysfunctional family, I learned how to cope with conflict and abuse. At the age of fifteen I was in an abusive relationship which I hid from my family for several years. At age 21, I became pregnant with twins. I lost one baby, but gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Becoming a single mother after my daughter’s father was arrested and sentenced to fourteen years in prison, left me destitute and hopeless.
Albert Einstein once said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” In the midst of my dilemma, I learned about Project HOPE. I was excited because my goal is to become a Patient Care Technician. Being accepted into Project HOPE gave me an opportunity to pursue my dream.
Lindsay is a 23-year-old single mother with a 10-month-old baby. Over the past five years, she had been receiving social service benefits while working part time as a waitress. That all began to change in September 2011. Lindsay started out by visiting Erie 1 BOCES to find out about phlebotomy training. She was disappointed to learn training did not begin until February 2012, but she received information about medical office and medical billing programs.
Still interested in pursuing a health care occupation, Lindsay visited the Buffalo Employment and Training Center next. There she impressed the staff with her wonderful personality and commitment to finding a good career. Testing allowed her to demonstrate her strong typing skills, which led to a referral to medical billing training. The availability and timing of that training was much better.
Misty says a simple scripture, 2 Corinthians 12:9, has enabled her to endure the last few years of her life: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” The “perfect life” she thought she had came crumbling down when suddenly she found herself divorced, with four young children and a fifth on the way. She moved back to Louisiana with no job, no income, and no help from her children’s father, and she had to sign up for state assistance through the Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP). Soon she found out that FITAP had a program called STEP (Strategies to Empower People) that would allow her to further her education. Determined not to become reliant on state assistance, she decided to return to college and attain the education she would need to become self-sufficient. Her goal was to become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). She had been to college before, but had never been a college student and single mother at the same time. This experience was about to show her just how strong she was as well as how strong her faith in God was.
Stanley Redus was recruited from the Haven for Hope, which is one of San Antonio's homeless shelters. He had encountered some life difficulties, a little later in life, which had left him homeless and with no other option but to resort to temporary assistance at the shelter. Alamo Colleges had been sharing the HPOG training program opportunities with residents and managers throughout the year during on-site information sessions and through the posting of flyers. While assisting with services at the shelter one day, Stanley got hold of one of those flyers, one about the upcoming Material Management and Central Supply training program.
As a result of her nearly 3-year participation in the WATCH Project, a Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program funded by the Office of Family Assistance, Sarina is on her way up the nursing career ladder, working as a new Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and finishing her first semester in a Registered Nurse (RN) Associates’ Degree program.
A South Carolina father is making the best of his second chance at life.
Adrayll was the recipient of a lifesaving liver transplant in April of 2017. Through the months of recovery, he looked to build a plan to provide for his wife and two young daughters while maintaining his health.
He heard about a grant program while talking to his caseworker at the Chester County Department of Social Services (DSS). The HPOG-funded Project HOPE would provide Adrayll entry to the very career field that helped save his life.
DaShouna came to the Wichita Workforce Center in September 2016.
She was one semester away from completing her Associates of Applied Science in Nursing and gaining her Registered Nurse (RN) license.
She had nine years of experience in the healthcare industry as a Home Health Aide. DaShouna was already on the right path to ensure a brighter future for herself and nine children. As a single mother, she relied on childcare from family, as well as programs such as TANF, SNAP, Section 8, Medical Card, and Free/Reduced lunches for her kids. Despite assistance, the money ran out and she could no longer afford her tuition.
DaShouna learned of the HPOG-funded Kansas Health Profession Opportunity Program (KHPOP) through fellow students. A KHPOP Career Coach met with DaShouna in October 2016 to discuss training and employment goals. With her student grant and loan options exhausted, the Career Coach decided that DaShouna would be a perfect candidate for “Wild Card” entry into KHPOP during her last semester of college. Each HPOG program has a limited number of Wild Cards, which allow program directors to bypass random assignment to serve participants with unusual circumstances. DaShouna had put so much of her own time and resources into her education that it took little time to gather the necessary documentation to award the Wild Card and enroll her in the KHPOP program.
A single mother rises up to start a new chapter in her life.
Antoinette and her family have faced many challenges in the last fifteen years. She suffered the loss of her home and the passing of close family members. She was a single mother, with nine daughters and no place to live. Much of the next decade was spent working hard to keep her family afloat.
Antoinette has a master’s degree in social work, but lack of licensure capped her earning potential. She spent time as a drug and alcohol counselor and as a daycare worker. Antoinette always loved helping families overcome challenges in their lives. Now, it was her turn.
Antoinette had two teenage daughters, one with special needs, and two grandchildren living with her. She knew she wanted to start her own business, and began researching what additional experience and education she would need to do so. She happened upon HPOG and knew that it was her chance to succeed.
