United Way job training funds up
Employment grants are boosted 34%
Posted: July 26, 2007
The United Way of Greater Milwaukee has increased funding for job training and retention grants by 34%, from $472,328 last year to $631,559 this year, with grants being distributed this month.
Job training is one piece of the non-profit's "breaking the cycle of poverty" strategy. Other grants go to boost early childhood education, prevent unwanted teen pregnancy and increase homeownership and financial literacy. All the programs are aimed at residents of the central city's 42 "extreme poverty" neighborhoods - those tracts where more than 40% of residents live at or below the federal poverty line.
Funding for girls' health and homeownership increased this year, but the funding for early childhood education decreased by about 38.5%. Essie Allen, vice president of community impact for United Way of Greater Milwaukee, said that's because there were fewer quality proposals this year for early childhood programs. Also, more donors gave money specifically earmarked for teen pregnancy and girls' health this year than previously.
One job training program helps low-income individuals become certified nursing assistants and, if they are interested, eventually train to become licensed practical nurses or registered nurses.
The nursing assistant training program, which got a $92,000 United Way grant, takes two weeks to a month to finish and is provided by Horizon Home Care and Hospice.
Latoya Wilks, 33, had been unemployed for four months when she heard about the Horizon program. Her last job was working part time at Wal-Mart for about $7.75 an hour.
Since going through the program in April 2006 and passing the nursing assistant test in July of last year, Wilks has been working full time for Horizon as a home health aide, making about $10 an hour.
She checks on an elderly client each day, helping him out of bed, feeding him, washing him and guiding him in his physical therapy.
"It's kind of rewarding, in a way, to help somebody," she said.
Horizon has partnerships with Milwaukee Area and
Waukesha
Countytechnical colleges, but it also sends participants to other schools and centers for training because the technical schools often have lengthy waiting lists for nursing programs, said Readonna Wilson, career development mentor at Horizon.
Trainees earn $6.50 an hour while taking classes. After they pass the test and become certified nursing assistants, they make $10 an hour working for Horizon as home health aides. In general, certified nursing assistants can expect to make from $9 to $12 an hour, according to a July 2006 report from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development's office of economic advisors.
That's usually a financial improvement for the trainees, most of whom were formerly unemployed or working part time,
Wilson said.
But certified nursing assistants still earn low pay and have little chance for advancement without further education, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That's why the program encourages people to continue their education.
If participants are interested, they can train for nine months to become licensed practical nurses or for two years to become registered nurses, with Horizon footing part of the bill. That program covers training expenses, mentorship and $1,000 a year in tuition reimbursement.
In 2005-'06, some 29 trainees entered the certified nursing assistant training, and 24 of them completed it. Of those, two are in school to become nurses, 19 are working in the health field and three left the field, said Susan Kulinski, director of human resources for Horizon.
Wilks, a single mother of three, has hopes of going back to school next year through the Horizon program and becoming a licensed practical nurse, a move that would increase her earning potential by some $10,000 a year.
The United Way's Essie Allen is hoping more trainees will follow suit and seek the training that can increase their incomes.
"When you look at some of the jobs that are now available in health care or the trades, those are self-sustaining kinds of positions that can lead to promotion and betterment," Allen said. "And that's really the goal for us."
