CINCINNATI WORKS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
"It's always great to have a network of support, and I have that at Cincinnati Works," Hampton said.
Stephen was 13 months old when he was injured, and he lived for another 2 ½ years before passing away in October 2018. Hampton was a "doting father," Edmerson said, and his grief was evident throughout those 2 ½ years.
"I relied on Miss Jacque a lot," Hampton said. "Even before that, she helped me talk through my relationship with my son's mother and just establishing boundaries for myself. She helped me grow as a person. Then the grief counseling … was critical for my mental health."
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, Marketing & Communications
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- Chief of Programs and Operations
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- Phoenix Program Outreach Worker
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
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- Adult Learning & Development Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
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- Board Emeritus, Cincinnati Works Co - Founder
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Career Center Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Information Systems / Salesforce
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
- Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel
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- Counselor
- Director of Clinical Services
- Director of Clinical Services ( TriHealth )
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
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- Government Strategies Group
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- Workforce Coach Supervisor
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- Community Engagement Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Director of Workforce and Coaching
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- Director of Operational Excellence
Job Titles:
- Director of Financial Wellness
Lisa Mauthe, Director of Financial Wellness at Cincinnati Works, helped Ortiz secure emergency assistance from Project LIFT, which allowed her to make the rent and car payments that were past due. In turn, that gave her the stability to build a new career in a new industry.
Lisa Mauthe, Director of Financial Wellness, reached out to April and explained how Cincinnati Works can help her in numerous ways beyond a job search. "I assured her that we are in her corner for her lifetime and across any circumstance," Lisa said.
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resource Officer
Job Titles:
- Director of Employment Services
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Mike Kralik listened intently as local companies described the challenges and triumphs of hiring traditionally hard-to-hire individuals - those with criminal records or in poverty or facing other barriers to employment. Kralik is the plant manager at Continental Building Products, and they are considering a similar effort. In addition to tapping into a new pool …
Job Titles:
- Phoenix Program Outreach Worker
She has held multiple positions as a nursing aide but longed for a career as a nurse, a goal she shared with Cincinnati Works financial coach Nina Vogt. The pandemic gave Earles time to think, and Vogt provided a sounding board. Earles decided to follow her passion and pursue a degree in nursing.
"It won't be just a job," she said. "It's something I know I will be happy to do every day."
Earles and Vogt discussed a budget, and Earles quickly set about making it work. She took a temporary job as a temperature-taker to save money throughout the summer, then enrolled full-time at Hondros College of Nursing. She lined up her classes to coincide with her 3-year-old daughter's preschool schedule.
"Neesha is taking full advantage of all the resources available to her during this time," Vogt said, "and she is leaving no stone unturned."
Earles is on track to graduate in September 2021. She will be the first person in her family to earn a degree.
"I am very determined because I've been through so much," she said. "Now I am at peace with myself. I know what I want for myself and my daughter. That is my main priority."
Earles has been a Cincinnati Works Member since 2013 but re-engaged this summer thanks to a partnership between Cincinnati Works and Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), which manages the housing complex where Earles and her daughter live.
Through the partnership, Vogt provides financial coaching to residents and oversees POAH's Family Self-Sufficiency program, which allows low-income families to save money without losing rental assistance or other benefits.
Patrick Smith was 42 years old when he called his mother, crying, from jail. He was separated from his girlfriend, addicted to crack cocaine and facing a felony drug-possession charge. He has always been quick to help others in need, but he did not know how to help himself.
"I didn't know how to live," he said. "I felt like I went to sleep at 28 and woke up 42, like, ‘What am I doing?'"
Smith would relapse twice within the next year, because real-life success stories don't follow a script. He went through Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous and Co-Dependents Anonymous. He participated in the Cincinnati Works job-readiness workshop five years after the jail term and made his first donation to Cincinnati Works five years after that.
He has since donated nine more times. In August, he will mark 20 years drug-free.
Regina Pugh was in the Cincinnati Works office recently and noticed a familiar job posting on the bulletin board: a seasonal position at a data-management company where she worked years ago. "I would go back there today if I could," she said. The problem is getting to and from the company's office in Sharonville. Pugh …
Job Titles:
- Continuous Improvement Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Member of the Young Professionals Board
Job Titles:
- Member Services Coordinator
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- Administrative Services Manager
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- CW Partnership Supervisor
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- Grants & Donor Data Manager
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- Director of Learning & Development
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- Professional Development Coach
Tim Smith has earned multiple promotions and raises since starting at $9.25 per hour.
Appearances can be deceiving, which is why Schwan's Company invests thousands of dollars and countless hours in inspecting their production lines with ultrasound equipment. Every day, Tim Smith and a co-worker use expensive hand-held tools to listen for signs of wear-and-tear in the machines. "Predictive maintenance," they call it.
Smith's empowerment began with a one-year prison stint for drug possession. While in jail, he committed to stop drinking, smoking and using drugs, and he cut ties with friends from his drug-using days.
Just a few months after he returned from prison, however, Smith's mom suffered a stroke and died. And he lost his job when his employer discovered the felony conviction, which he had not divulged during the application process. Smith was distraught. "I thought the world didn't want me anymore," he said.
He considered ending his life and even wrote a suicide note, but he never acted on it. Instead, he told Edmerson, a mental health counselor with TriHealth who works with Cincinnati Works Members.
"She said, `You got clean by making honesty your cornerstone, but you aren't honest when you apply for these jobs,'" Smith recalled. "She told me to admit my past and show them how I am reinventing myself."
Job Titles:
- Chief Development and External Relations Officer
Yolanda Gray found that partner in Yolanda Hill. It was no coincidence they worked together to complete the mountain of custody paperwork.
"She pushed me. No, she shoved me," Yolanda Gray said. "I never had the courage to overcome something like that. Everything I do now, I think, ‘What would Yolanda do? What would she tell me?'"
Yolanda Gray was convinced after their initial meeting that Yolanda Hill was the perfect coach for her - the ideal mix of sweet and tough, encouraging and demanding. "I prayed for it," she said.
Hill was less sure. She did not doubt Yolanda's sincerity, but she understood the toll that a lifetime of trauma takes on a person's psyche.
"You can get beaten down," Hill said. "Every obstacle becomes something you can't handle. We had that conversation. She had to be more invested than just her tears."