SUCCESS STORY FROM HOUSING WEATHERIZATION
· A formerly unemployed or recently trained worker who is helping to weatherize a home
Clallam County resident Craig Brundle was just another economic downturn casualty when American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding in Washington State came to the rescue.
Brundle, 36, had 15 years of experience in construction when he found himself jobless last November – “that’s when the crash happened,” he said. “We ran out of construction – no one was giving out loans.”
“I got high blood pressure,” said Brundle, who is a single parent to a 15-year-old daughter, Cierra, a freshman at Sequim High School. “My main concern was for the well- being of my daughter.”
He started participating in Olympic Community Action Program’s (OlyCAP) “Career Jump” program and helped out at a local Habitat for Humanity organization store as a requirement.
He got his General Equivalency Diploma and received outstanding work evaluations. His program manager approached OlyCAP officials to ask if there were any work opportunities as a result from $59 million in state ARRA funding for Weatherization.
OlyCAP took a chance, hired him in March, and he hasn’t looked back since. His boss and coworkers see a great dad and a great asset to the four-person weatherization crew that serves Clallam and Jefferson counties.
“His evaluations are very good and he has a very good work ethic,” said Dan DiGuilio, Director of Housing for OlyCAP. “He is working out very well and has become a regular member of our weatherization crew.”
For now, a paycheck and steady work are the most important professional goals for Brundle.
But he also wants to give back in a time of need and still volunteers at Habitat for Humanity.
“Thank God I that that help from the state,” he said. “Now I try to help people and a difference in their lives, too.”
ARRA Success Story- Fawn Martinez
I am a single mother with a boy in college.
I had dedicated over 12 years to a company that promptly laid me off the first sign of economic stress, leaving me and my son without health insurance, a mortgage payment, student loan payment or car payment. Thankfully I do not have credit card debt.
I looked for work for 9 months being over qualified for much of all the jobs available (July 08 to March 09) while trying to survive on unemployment benefits and a small savings I was hoping to put on my son’s student loan.
In order to make it I was forced to cash out my small retirement account of 15,000 due to a condo assessment and was tax penalized for trying to keep us from foreclosure. I promptly put our condo on the market but I couldn’t even get a neighbor to come through.
I had networked with all my friends & family to no avail….
Then out of the blue I received a phone call from an old contractor friend. He knew my capabilities from years of working together and dropped my name to King County Housing Authority. The project manager, Dan Auer, who also knew me as I had helped him with lighting specifications over the years called me and offered me a position in the Weatherization/Rehab division. My salary was similar to my previous employment, although I was unable to get my son covered under the medical as his college is not accredited I was able to obtain health insurance again along with many other benefits.
I am so thankful that we still have a roof over our heads & food on the table, I did not lose my home & equity and I am back on course restoring my retirement and able to pay for my sons college. This is all because of the ARRA funding that created my new job and a better job than I had before!
Respectfully,
Fawn Martinez
ARRA-Success Story
Office of Crime Victims Advocacy
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Success Story
Brigid Collins Family Support Center in Bellingham is using an American Recovery and Reinvestment grant to help kids who have been abused get back to being kids again.
Recovery funds will hire a new child victim advocate to work directly with victims of child abuse Skagit County. The new advocate visit with the child, the child’s family, school, and government agencies to make sure the child is getting the best services their community can offer. The new child victim advocate will also have expertise in working with Latino communities, a specific need identified for Skagit County. The child victim advocate will make sure that the child’s network of support is as good as it can be so that the child has the best local resources available throughout their recovery.
Community Development Block Grant Recovery Act Success Stories
Community services and housing organizations link to economic development by satisfying the basic needs of individuals which enables them to participate in training or hold a job. One of Commerce’s community capacity strategies involves strengthening this connection. We began this process by encouraging Community Action Agencies to focus on economic and job development as they drafted plans for the Recovery Act.
This has resulted in projects that enhance access to job training and placement throughout the state. Current examples include:
Twenty students from low income families have already begun learning green affordable housing construction techniques through Okanogan County Community Action Program’s partnership with Omak High School in their “Learning Green Homes” project.
Contact: Lael Duncan 509-422-4041
A new staff member supported with CSBG Recovery Act funds at Rural Resources Community Action has already screened and assessed 63 clients at their local library in partnership with the Stevens County Rural Library District. By providing screening at libraries, rural citizens don’t have to travel as far to apply for services in Ferry, Pend Oreille, and Stevens Counties.
Contact: Kelly Charlton, 509-684-4821
Two new staff positions and three new client jobs have already been created, as well as 22 clients served in South King County, as a result of Multi-Service Center’s CSBG Recovery Act Adult Employment and Education project. The project provides career planning, GED classes, job readiness training, résumé preparation, job placement assistance, and job retention services.
Contact: Robin Corak 253-838-6810, x117
Recovery Act funds retained one job and created another that will help 27 job-seeking clients increase their technology access and skill development in Neighborhood House’s Technology Focused Employment Skill Development computer lab that serves Seattle and South King County.
Contact: Catherine Verrenti 206-461-8430, x229
CSBG ARRA Success Story:
Hope University
(Serving Kittitas County)
204 East 6th
Ellensburg, WA 98926
(509) 925-1448
(509) 925-1204 fax
Adam Auckland and Jesse James have jobs funded through the American Recovery and Recovery Act. They were hired to build Hope University, a new service that
HopeSource uses to improve the lives of low-income individuals and families in Kittitas County through a
Community Service Block Grant.
The Recovery grant is intended to get Hope University started. HopeSource’s Executive Director Susan Grindle plans on local funds and other grants to sustain it.
Hope University will use a college theme to provide different levels of instruction to adults who want to improve their lives. The first level—Hope 101—will assess and provide help for income qualified ‘students’ to meet basic needs and make sure they have access to safe housing, food, and other basic needs. The second level—Career 201—will connect employers to students who will gain skills through on the job training. Grindle estimates that 35 program participants will find employment though Hope University in the next year.
After families have reached sustainability, upper division classes, like upper division classes at nearby Central Washington University, will provide the next level of training. At Hope University that includes personal finance, family development, and assistance with college or other career improvement.
“This is about getting people who never planned on going to college to start thinking about it,” Hope University’s Auckland said. He’s similar to the students they are targeting—he just finished college after being in the workforce for years.
Grindle explained that “Recovery funds have given us a boost like the boost we give our clients to get them moving forward in life. This grant will allow us to do some amazing things for our community”.
Weatherization Success Story, Clark County click here