For 39-year-old Wanda Marshall of Zion, life has been a constant challenge.
She became pregnant at the age of 13, again at 15 and again at 16 while attending Evanston Township High School. And she would have two more children over the next eight years.
Forced to turn to public assistance to even finish high school, she has never given up her goal of getting a job that pays well and that could give her a financially independent life, free of the welfare system that she has drifted reluctantly into and out of for the better part of 15 years.
“I didn’t like being on (Aid to Families with Dependent Children),” Marshall said. “It’s embarrassing. I never wanted to stay on it. I just wanted to be on it long enough to get an education and get some skills so I could get a job.”
Marshall still is browsing the want ads. But at least she now has the skills, gained from the Vocational Skills Training Program at the College of Lake County.
On Thursday, Marshall and 17 other mothers with similar stories-and all currently receiving public assistance-sat before an audience of about 60 smiling family members, CLC faculty and business, health and welfare officials to receive their certificates for completing the VST program.
This instruction is a free, state-funded venture that provides 16 weeks of vocational and educational training to help Lake County public aid recipients find employment and become self-sufficient.
“I just completed an internship at Kemper (National Insurance Cos.) thanks to my involvement in the program, and as soon as I leave this graduation ceremony I’m going back to put in an application there and at Baxter Healthcare,” Marshall said with confidence.
“It was hard to come back because I didn’t know if I could do it,” Marshall said, clutching her certificate against her chest. “But my kids pushed me. They told me I was smart and I could do it. And when I got here, I made friends with the others in the class, and we all helped each other. It’s a really great program.”
The VST program, also called the Public Assistance Program, was started in 1975 at the college. But it joined with the Lake County Health Department’s Vocational Services office and the Illinois Department of Public Aid’s Project Chance three years ago. Project Chance provides child care and transportation for program participants.
While some colleges provide free or “nearly free” courses for those receiving public assistance, the VST program is unusual because it teams the school with regional and statewide partners that work together and help to provide job placement.
The Illinois Department of Public Aid gives the college a list of aid recipients in the area, and the college sends out recruitment letters. Interested applicants must be able to type at least 25 words a minute and pass a typing test. If they pass, they can register.
Program participants receive training in word processing, communications skills, office procedures and desktop publishing. Also, representatives from local businesses like Abbott Laboratories, Motorola and Baxter Healthcare conduct mock interviews, critique resumes and offer interview tips.
The certificate program runs simultaneously during the fall and spring semesters at the college’s main campus, in Grayslake, and at the Lake Shore campus in Waukegan, said coordinator Vickie Goode. There are a few men who go through the program, but most are single mothers on AFDC, she said.
“I enjoy being a part of the program because it is a way to help students on welfare become self-sufficient through education,” Goode said. “When the students come in, we want to encourage them and let them know they can come to us if they have a problem or any questions because many of the people who enter the program don’t have a lot of self-esteem or confidence. Most of them have come through a lot already.”
Victoria Stillwell of Round Lake has three children and has been receiving public assistance for the last 10 years.
“My husband was unemployed; we were practically living in the streets. I was expecting our third child; I couldn’t work, and I found out about public aid and signed on,” said Stillwell, 34, a graduate of the vocational program. “Then things just happened to where I couldn’t get off (welfare). I found myself in poor health, trying to raise the kids and keep them in school. . . . Then, this year I found out about the Vocational Skills Training Program at CLC.”
Now, Stillwell is looking forward to starting her internship at the Lake County Health Department, which, she said, could help launch her into a secretarial or clerical job.
“If I had decided to go out on my own without having participated in the program, I probably could have gotten a job at Burger King or something, but that’s about it,” Stillwell said. “I didn’t have the skills before to get a job that could get me off public assistance. But now I think it’s just a matter of time.”
And if past performance is any clue, Stillwell’s chances are pretty good.
Over the past three years, the program has had a 70 percent employment rate. Of the 18 graduates of the program Thursday, three already had jobs and several others had offers. And out of the 16 graduates of the program last fall, 13 are working, said Roberta Leonard, assistant field manager for Downstate Unit 2 of the Illinois Department of Public Aid’s Project Chance.
The Bottomless Closet, a non-profit group in Chicago, provides the participants with donated, professional clothing to wear to interviews or on the job. Even most of the garments the women wore to Thursday’s graduation were donated from the Bottomless Closet.
“When I walk into an interview now, I am very confident in myself and know that I am able to do whatever job I’m applying for,” said Michele Coates, 28, who gave the graduation speech for the Grayslake campus VST class Thursday.
Coates-with her 3-year-old daughter, Samantha, in tow and her mother, Mary Coates, standing proudly nearby during the ceremony-said she should have no problem finding a job now. She has set a two-month timetable for her transition from public assistance.
“I probably would have stayed on public aid for a long time if it wasn’t for this program,” said Michele Coates, who has been receiving aid for 14 months. “I was looking for a job before I enrolled in the program, but the only thing I was qualified for were low-paying, minimum-wage positions. And when you have a child and have to pay $80 to $100 a week for day care, with a minimum wage job you can barely cover that, much less live off it.”
Mary Coates, who didn’t go to college until after she turned 30, said she is glad her daughter took advantage of the program.
“Hopefully, I was a role model for Michele,” said Mary Coates, 51. “And now Samantha can have her mother as a role model.”
