Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / March 14, 2002, edition 1 / Page 11
Part of Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Life Changing Job education program for people down on luck is creating success stories BY tUUKl INfc, Y GAILLARD THE CHRONICLE Myles DeGraffenreidt found himself in a transitional and troubled period in his life, unable to find work after a layoff at his last job as a chef. With 18 years of culinary expertise behind him, he had to temporarily seek lodging at The Bethesda Center until bet ter housing became available for him and his family. We have all been down on our luck like DeGraffenreidt. College graduates, seasoned professionals and early retirees have all endured the tedious job search as a result of downsizing or a simple desire for a new career path. But DeGraffenreidt's job search was different than most, because he did not have a home and was becoming sober. The Bethesda Center in Winston-Salem decided to make the job search a little easier and possible for low income people, like DeGraf fenreidt, on the road to work in The Reach Out Program, Determination and hard work are all that's required to suc ceed in this education and employment training program. Reach Out, funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation, is designed to assist homeless residents at The Bethesda Center and other area shelters in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County with seeking and maintaining employment. Donald Lowery, education specialist and training coordi nator, was hired by The Bethesda Center to establish and oversee a program of this nature, and it is the first of its kind in the area. Lowery formed this pro gram from the ground up and has molded it to be one that trains participants in careers they choose. A progressive curriculum has been created Lowery around the program that allows participants to devise a personal and professional development plan to enter the work force. Once hired, participants will receive on-the-job train ing while completing the required curriculum of the program over the course of six months to a year. Each partic ipant, after working as an intern and completing the requirements of Reach Out, is given resources through Bethesda to begin planning to purchase a home or some kind of permanent housing. One of the programs Low ery created focuses on African-American males' re entry into the job market, because they are frequently subject to stereotypes and adversity. "(Black males') cultural acquisitions are different from other races. This helps most brothers understand that they have some barriers and behav iors that they have to deal with that other people don't have to deal with because they're car rying a lot of excess baggage," said Lowery about the UJ1MA Male Education Program. UJIMA originates from one of the seven days of Kwanzaa. "Ujima" means connective work and responsibility. Although no one aspires to live a life in poverty, some people see no way out of it and make no attempt to change their lifestyles. "In the first 30 days of the program under case manage ment the person is scrutinized closely to determine if they are trying very hard to make progress," said Lowery, who explained that oftentimes homeless people fall victim to their adverse life circum stances and become compla cent, pessimistic and anti social. Regardless of which shel ters participants come from, they must be-screened and meet mandatory program requirements, which include drug testing, completion of an aptitude test, meetings with a case manager. Each partici pant must possess a high school diploma or GED. "A lot of people think that most homeless people are drug addicts and alcohol abusers, but that's not the case. Most people that are homeless are homeless because they can't find employment due to other bar riers, and, believe it or not, unaffordable housing," Low ery said. Feeling that DeGraffenrei dt might be ready to get back to work, Lowery approached him at the center about The Reach Out Program. The Hawthorne Inn needed a p.m. .chef in November of last year and DeGraffenreidt was hired. He is responsible for preparing all of the food for the inn and the Bayberry Restaurant. Lowery considers DeGraffenreidt to be a model participant of Reach Out and dotes on him and his progress like a proud father. DeGraffenreidt credits executive chef Joe Baldwin at The Hawthorne Inn for open ing the door of opportunity to moio o> ?. nurinc\ uani.iru Myles DeGraffenreidt, a chef at the Hawthorne Inn, poses with the facility's executive chef Joe Baldwin. DeGraffenreidt has found success through the Bethesda Center program. him so that he can continue his i line of work in the culinary world. The glass is always half-O full as far as Baldwin is con- < cerned and that is exactly what 1 he tells his kitchen staff at The Hawthorne Inn. Baldwin says that "we serve a second chance God" and that is why he had no qualms about hiring DeGraffenreidt. "We don't look at the past. We look at today. The Bible says we don't judge a man by his past," Baldwin said. If more people were will ing to take and give chances as Baldwin did, DeGraffenreidt believes many skilled workers would not be overlooked because of mistakes or unlucky circumstances in their lives. "Everybody has been caught in something in their life. Everybody has a skeleton and something they need to work on; nobody is infallible. When you have people that have their arms open in pro grams like The Reach Out Program and people like Joe Baldwin who will let you be you and work and have such a great time in getting their lives together, it's just wonderful," said DeGraffenreidt, who attributes his success first and foremost to God and the won derful people at The Bethesda Center and the Hawthorne Inn. It may appear that a pro gram such as Reach Out goes to great lengths to accommo date homeless people in a world where opportunities seem endless. Surely there is always a vacant position at the supermarket or gas station and there is bound to be a need for a stock person in a retail store and any business can use a custodian, right? With the volatile job market and unem ployment rate, homeless peo ple face the economic roller coaster like the rest of us, but with little to no resources and skills behind them, they are left at the bottom of the barrel. Reach Out could be con sidered the closest thing to a solution to the problem of poverty at large. However, where assistance is to be given to people in need, funding must first be available so that agencies such as The Bethesda Center can help people pur chase books for classes to complete unfinished education or give them access to com puter labs to research jobs or create resumes. "We cut out all of the bar riers that stop people from getting to where they need to get so they don't have an excuse," said Lowery, - > also said that the success of the program is g I because people want to do s ,r themselves. Because of t e intense nature of Reach Ort, usually no more than five pe > pie are in the program at uii, time. Since the program's inception in October of litst year, it has maintained a suc cess rate of 100 percent, Low ery said. Cooperation from the busi , ness community is another critical element to the success of a program such as Reach Out. Businesses must be will ing to train and work with low-income and relatively inexperienced people who desire and deserve a second chance. The Hawthorne Inn. Adams Mark Hotel, Shellco General Contractors Corp. and Jackson Auto Works are among the local businesses that participate in the pro gram. Pi seccaffl southeastern center for contemporary RESIDENCY PROJECT 750 Marguerite Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27105 web: www.secca.org email: generaldsecca.org ph: 336 725.1904 fax:336-722.6059 EACE RESPECT CULTURE DANCE World-renowned choreographer Chuck Davis and his dancers of the African American Dance Eniemble will share their vision of interracial cooperation, cross-cultural communication and global understanding during a two-wet* residency project, March 18-23 and May 13-18. Participants will have an opportunity to share and learn from each other as they explore African and African-American dance and music through active participation with the dance company. i Monday, March 18, 6-9pm Opening Recaption ?Winston-Salem State University's Diggs Gallery Thursday, March 21, S-Spm SECCAftar Hours *SECCA galleries * 'I Friday, March 22, S-Spm Community Wldt Ctltbfitlon of Unltv trWIIVfVlHVVly ?f?w WWIMtrl MIVWI eel Wllley Winston-Salem State University's Dlggs Gallery Join the Celebration March Saturday, March 23, 11am-1pm 18 "23 FantHy/ChUdran't Workshop ? SICCA During May 13-19. community-wide dance actlvltlas w* oonttnu# and culminate ? performance at SECCA For mora Information eoll V ft 330.728.1904 ji|9| ) Thia protect la part ?J of i itotowido Initiative VL Vfijr davalopad by the ^jjL AgTS SuNCIL ? liaw I HI i ' ^^HM 1 '?-?? acmpuiy throughout the K etate ot North Caroline. f n- *, The danoe laeidency protect > ^ ~ . |: twtr? W V W J*!""**- ?,;. Jj|| . [??El ??? BBI^ V" ^%HH <^Hr wf " M$*?s#fli - I ? itfl
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 14, 2002, edition 1
11
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75