Empowering Community to Achieve Economic Stability
Moving Towards Economic Stability
Client Zheng, a single mother with a 7 year-old child, migrated to San Francisco a few months ago. She needs a job as soon as possible to support their living expenses. In order to improve her qualifications for employment, she comes to APA regularly for accelerated ESL lessons, making good progress on One-on-One English tutoring and Digital Literacy training. However she is behind in her job search.
We interviewed Ms. Zheng and learned that she wants to find a nanny or preschool teacher’s aide job. We reviewed her skill set and work experience, and provided her with a list of actions to take in order to be ready for a nanny’s job. This includes the CPR and First Aid certification and specific interview skills for being a nanny. Our guidance highly inspired and motivated her to start with the action plan we provided and focus on reaching her goal.
Back to Workforce
Tina decided she wanted to get back into the workforce. When she was in her early twenties, she’d taken time off to care for her five children and attend to her poor health. So now, as a single parent and with help from her own mother, it was time to go back to work and at an outreach event at Mercy Housing in Mission Bay, Tina joined the APA Employment Program.
APA staff reviewed Tina’s background information, which included working at Goodwill and retail at other places, and determined she was best suited for Customer Service or Retail positions. During a one-on-one meeting, our staff told Tina about an upcoming hiring fair at AT&T Park. We provided a direct referral for her and she got an interview. Tina prepared her resume and prepped for her interview with in-office and email support from APA.
Tina also emailed our staff to find out about current openings and to apply for other positions. She was interested in applying to a variety of places for the experience and to learn about different companies. As a result, she got two part-time job offers — one from AT&T Park and another from Ross. Due to her determination, in less than two months, after enrolling in the Employment Program, Tina landed two positions.
Tina also took part in APA’s Family Support Day and was able to receive diaper support each month for her youngest child.
Success in Becoming Substitute Teachers’ Aide
Ms. Yu is a single mother who had been struggling financially to care for her young daughter after losing her job as an electronics Warehouse Assistant. At an Early Childhood Education Job Fair at City College of San Francisco, she was recruited to join APAFSS’s Employment Program. Our staff invited Ms. Yu to attend agency events to network and get support from her peers. She became active in the community: volunteering for Head Start and taking parenting courses. She was motivated but needed help getting her foot in the door in the child care industry.
APAFSS staff referred her to a short-term child care position at Chinese for Affirmative Action, and she was later selected for a part-time temporary child care position at one of APAFSS’s offices. With some work experience behind her, Ms. Yu got a job interview at a child care center. APAFSS Staff acted as one of her references and helped her with filling out forms. In the end she was offered the position of Substitute Teacher’s Aide.
Janet’s Story of Strength, Courage, and Determination
Janet and her two children live in a one bedroom apartment and share a public kitchen and bathroom with the building's other residents. Her day starts early as she prepares her children for school and then escorts them. She works two part-time jobs as a maintenance/cleaning person in order to financially support herself and her two children.
Janet has come a long way since her first visit to APAFSS in 1996. Her husband's extramarital affairs led to a divorce that was complicated by her residence status in the United States, her financial difficulties, and her unfamiliarity with the San Francisco United School District. During these difficult times, she was assigned a home visitor from APAFSS who provided her with community resources like legal services for her divorce, information on parenting education, and services that helped her fill out paperwork and apply for welfare. Janet said that the most important service that APAFSS provided was the emotional support for which she will always be grateful.
She began to volunteer at APAFSS doing janitorial work which later helped her gain employment as a maintenance worker in a local factory. APAFSS encourages and motivates clients to develop their own internal strengths and to attain their goals. Janet has reached her goal to be independent and to raise her two children. Asked what her next goal is, she replied, "I want to see my children grow up as kind and successful adults."
Connecting Tim and His Family to Resources
Tim, a 52-year-old restaurant worker from China, suffered a debilitating stroke at work six months after he got a clean bill of health from his physical checkup. First sent to CPMC's Emergency Room, he then spent ten days in their ICU, unable to talk or walk and with impaired vision.
He was only married three years to a recent immigrant -- a woman in her early thirties. Both of them spoke only Cantonese. Isolated due to a lack of extended family in the area and the language barrier, and with an 18-month-old son plus a baby on the way, Tim and his young family seriously needed help.
After three weeks of hospitalization, Tim was discharged from CPMC. It was at there that their social worker referred Tim and his family to APAFSS's In-Home Visitation Program for the much needed support and resources. His APAFSS case manager connected him with in-home physical therapy, but his condition required more than the allowed number of visits, so his case worker helped him apply for a benefits extension. To get to and from his many doctors appointments, APAFSS also helped Tim get discount taxi vouchers.
After his stroke, Tim's family also needed financial help. With APAFSS's help Tim applied for disability and his family applied for public assistance. Our case worker also encouraged Tim to apply for In-Home Support Services for help with housework and the family got childcare for their son. They also received counseling services to help deal with the impact Tim's stroke had on the family and on Tim.
Our case worker worked with the family for a year. Applying for the various benefits required multiple trips with Tim to the different support agencies, helping to translate and fill-out forms, and much back and forth to gather required information.
Six months after his stroke, Tim's wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She later found part-time employment through the public assistance program and both children got accepted into childcare. Tim is now getting SSI. His health has improved and he is able to do some light housework around his home. Five days a week he rides the bus to take his son to kindergarten and his daughter to pre-school.
