We Can focus our Intention

and Everything blossoms

There are ways to accomplish everything, (you all know this already). I’m not one who stands by and says I can’t. Multiple times in my life I’ve had people say “you just can’t do that” and I responded with a mischievous smile “watch me.” In this moment, as I think about each of my readers here in Stacklandia, I know that you are the same type of person, you will find a way.

I share an example from when I was in my mid 30’s. It was 1985, and I was dauntless even then. It was back in the years when I didn’t know all the things I didn’t know.

I was hired as the head of a brand new program in Danielson, CT that helped “Displaced Homemakers” at the time. (What a name eh? It was much later renamed “Women in Transition”) I was hired by the local non profit to create a program that would help women in transition from full time Mom’s work back to the public work force after being away from formal work for a few years. Most of these women and a few men had been handed the short end of the straw as far as options for rebuilding their lives, usually post divorce. The local non profit, WACAP (Windham Area Community Action Program) had been awarded a grant of $11,000 and its goal of serving 30 women.

With no format, no outline, no blueprint I said sure, why not me. I took the job, and the first order of business was finding a grant to pay my own salary. (Hah!) never written a grant? Naive me said sure, why not. I got lucky and was fortunate to find one, and at the time paid myself a whopping $18,000.

My desk was a table beside other tables in the basement of an old house in CT. Next task was creating something that cost almost nothing, to give the women help during their transition. I set out to find an inexpensive location which conveyed respect and strength. No moldy basement windows for us. I found a restored old home in town that gave us the rent for one third of the cost because of the work we were doing.

Reaching out for info, and finding absolutely nothing of use in print. I thought, we can create this. I found another small grant and hired someone to help me.

I filled out all the required monthly reports to satisfy the grant requirement, and kept asking myself, “Why not?” Over and over. I stayed focused on my goal of helping these people.

This, the faces of people whose lives were changed because of this one grant. This is why I continued. (Note that photos are from Unsplash and not actual people I served..to share their photos would be unethical)

Unsplash photo credit goes to yasara hansani From Ukraine

After a few months, I was able to connect with several other community action programs across the state, and we decided to produce a manual for the program. We included classes on dress for success, practicing interviews, creating lists of skills they already have, resume writing, coping skills for stress, steps to find reliable safe childcare, how to get medical insurance (this was way before Obama Care), and how to recognize they were part of their own hero’s journey.

Our goal was to finish each round of classes with more confident, ready for work people who had the best chance of becoming employed.

It was near the end of our grant approved time, and I wanted to go out with a bang. I thought big: A JOB FAIR! (I’ve never been one to take the easy route up the mountain, but then again, you already knew that about me if you’ve read anything else here.. ha ha)

It needed to be FREE, our funding was running low.

I worked many hours of overtime without charging the program because I believed in what we were doing, and knew the forever effect we were having on each of our clients.

I needed to solve the Who, Where, When, and How to spur interest from local business. I was on it.

I am not seeking applause, not hardly. And this isn’t about me. So please refrain. I write because if I can do it, why not you? I was just a simple me, 32 years old and single parenting, doing the best I could with living.

I found a local elementary school with a huge lunch room that would allow us to use the space on Saturday and Sunday (no charge if we cleaned up after ourselves .. and we surely did) the “where” was solved.

Then I began climbing that mountain I was speaking about. I called, emailed, wrote personal hand written notes, sought out support of senators and representatives, and spoke with all the businesses in a twenty mile radius of our town.

It’s irrelevant how many “no’s” I got. (And there were many.) This is all about the yes answers. If I recall correctly, we had fifteen local companies show up ready to hire. The “who” was solved. Followed quickly were the “what and the when”. I overflowed with both exhaustion and excitement. This was a whole community project, involving kids of friends, business leaders who clearly knew the reason “why” all this mattered. It was never just me. We met weekly at a local joint who made the best pizza you’ve ever had (not kidding) and brain storm next steps.

I made posters at home, with my daughter helping make them artistic, one staff member who had a printer made a huge number of flyers, the participants in the program chimed in and spread the word. We began, my class of fifteen clients and I, to make a celebration of hanging them on flag poles, grocery cork boards, laundromats, food banks. Have staple gun, will travel. We didn’t have money for stamps, so we took handfuls of flyers to churches, Lions Clubs, Shriners, Eagles clubs etc. we tapped the local scout troops, square dancing classes, knitting groups, and met with people on the street.

We were saying : We are here to give you the leg up you deserve. A free Job Expo, with every single company looking to hire people just like you.

The goal was to not make anyone climb the mountain all alone, but to bring the mountain to them.

Free to attend, free to speak with companies, and if you need it, free help with resumes.

Photo credit Unsplash - artist Kate Bezzubets from Sri Lanka

Word spread. And the Job Fair / Expo was a fabulous success. I went all soft in my heart with how many people came up and gave me a hug of thanks. They all kindly didn’t mention the happy tears rolling down my cheeks.

The population of that area was about 3200 in 1985. And we had over three hundred people attend to fill out applications for work at the Job Expo. I was beyond pleased.

I don’t know how many got jobs that day. That wasn’t my yardstick of success, so much as it was paving the path and providing tools to optimize who they already were. We just needed to give their self esteem a boost. They were ready.

The end result was the epitome of irony.

Using a total of 29,000 (11,000 I began with plus the 18,000 I found) in grants which was meant to serve 30 people was surpassed by serving over 300. I was beaming with pride as I spoke with all my clients and staff.

The irony? I was fired from my job at WACAP (Windham Area Community Action Program) for helping “too many people.” Behind closed doors, the director of the agency told me that I had shown up all the other program heads with what I had accomplished, and essentially it was “bad form”.

I kept that letter of dismissal for many years as a badge of honor.

It was never about the numbers . Always and only about the people who were reminded that their lives mattered.

Footnote: the course curriculum the other program heads and I wrote was used for years to help many “Women in Transition” (as it was later called).

“Together” is a compilation of thoughts by Teyani Whitman. All posts are free, along with the first half of my book Staying Together. For every three monthly paid subscriptions of $5, I will donate $5 to the nonprofit, The Ocean Cleanup. Thank you for supporting both me and the amazing work of saving our oceans and rivers.