 "YO helped me become the person I am today."
When Janice was 17, pregnant, and no longer attending
high school, she decided the best way to set herself and her unborn child on a
better path was to earn her GED. With that goal in mind, she became a member of the Westside Youth Opportunity (YO) Center for young
people who aren't in school or working. She took
advantage of the GED classes offered at the center and after two years, she achieved
what she had set out to do -- becoming a high school graduate.
“I was relieved,” Janice recalls, “to have accomplished
something I’d put off for so long.”
She also took advantage of the job readiness classes and employment
placement assistance available through YO. Soon after earning her GED, Janice
got a job with Baltimore City Public Schools, working in the cafeteria at
Baltimore School for the Arts. The staff at YO also pointed her to affordable
childcare resources so that she – as a single mom – did not have to worry about
her child while she was at work.
Since that time, Janice has decided to pursue a career
she’s had a long-time interest in – criminal justice. Today, at 23, she's
employed full-time in security for Wal-Mart while she works toward her
associate’s degree in criminal justice at Baltimore City Community College. Not only is she on track to graduate from BCCC next year, she has
already passed preliminary testing to join the Baltimore City and Baltimore
County Police Departments, and is moving on to the next phase of the hiring
process for both departments, which is agility testing.
When asked to sum up the impact YO has had on her life,
Janice said, “YO helped me become the person I am today.”
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