Three years ago, Carolyn Jordan had a cocaine problem, no job and few clues on how to take care of her 7-year-old daughter.
Then she heard about a self-help program offered through Catholic Charities and enrolled. Through the program, she learned how to take care of herself, get and keep a job and care for her daughter, the 39-year-old Waukegan resident said.
Jordan will be one of 25 Lake County women to be honored Saturday at Catholic Charities’ annual Recognition and Celebration/Graduation Ceremony at the Bernardin Service Center in Waukegan.
For Jordan, getting the award from the staff members at Catholic Charities is “kind of saying a job well done; it’s like a hug to me, and we all need love in one area or another.”
She’s now found steady work at Cherry Electrical Products in Waukegan, where she will mark one year with the company in early September.
“If (Catholic Charities) weren’t there, I don’t know where I’d be,” Jordan said during a recent interview at the Bernardin Center. “They were a great inspiration in my life.”
Some of the women to be honored have earned college degrees or high school equivalency diplomas; others have completed certificate training courses in fields such as computer science.
For others, the award recognizes six months of steady employment in the past year in a variety of jobs.
While holding onto a job for six months might not seem like a long time, for the program participants it represents an enormous accomplishment.
To be eligible for the program, each woman must have at least one child; some have as many as eight children at home, according to the staff members at Catholic Charities who work with the women. For the most part, the women are the chief breadwinners for their families. Domestic violence and substance abuse are among the obstacles that many of the women enrolled in the program have had to overcome.
Job readiness classes to show how to look for work, budget counseling and crisis problem-solving are among the services offered to the program’s participants.
All of those enrolled have long-range goals, such as completing a college degree. But staff members also recognize that big accomplishments are reached after achieving many much smaller goals, according to Ellen Belluomini, program director of community casework at Catholic Charities in Lake County.
When many clients first arrive, they have a sense of hopelessness, Belluomini said.
“A lot of times when they come to us, all they see is a brick wall, and our job is not only to show them different ways to do things, but also to be their cheerleaders, to encourage them to take risks,” she said.
Not all of the women enrolled in the self-sufficiency program receive awards, according to staff. On Saturday, nearly a quarter of the women involved in the two-tiered program will be singled out for praise.
Seeing their peers recognized is a way to motivate the others in the program to reach their goals, said Sharon Almon, human resource specialist for the self-sufficiency programs.
“It celebrates the accomplishments of the participants,” Almon said. “For some, it’s the first time that anyone has celebrated their accomplishments.”
Byrdie Smith, 25, of Waukegan has been at work at the Lake County Health Department for about 18 months. The mother of a 5-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter, she said she can’t believe how much her life has changed in the five years since she started in the self-sufficiency program.
In that time, she landed her job as an accounts receivable clerk with the health department, completed a certificate program in computer training and made headway toward her associate’s degree at the College of Lake County. When she graduates, she hopes to become a counselor to help women through her own experiences.
“It was like everything fell into place,” said Smith, who said she was overwhelmed to be selected for an award on Saturday.
“I feel like I’ve reached a goal I’ve set,” Smith said. “But this to me is just a start; I still have a ways to go.”
