‘I’m Excited to go to Work’

Overcoming a three-year struggle to find work – with help from the SDHC Achievement Academy – provided Griselda with renewed confidence and hope for the future.

“I’m excited to go to work and do the job that I do,” said Griselda, who was hired in October 2016 as a part-time office clerk for a local nonprofit organization. “I want to do accounting, so I’m looking forward to getting into an accounting department within the company.”

A single mother with two teenage sons, Griselda has received Federal rental assistance from SDHC since 2008.

She earned an associate’s degree in accounting two years ago, but could not find work until she started attending SDHC Achievement Academy workshops in April 2016. She received help with her résumé, job interview skills, and customer service training.

“I started getting interviews as soon as I started coming to the Achievement Academy,” Griselda said.

She continues to work toward financial self-reliance, participating in SDHC Achievement Academy programs, such as Family Self-Sufficiency and Power of One, a program for single parents that includes a match savings program.

Griselda was one of the first graduates of Power of One.

“I hear other people and see their struggles and seeing how far they’ve come, and it just gives me hope that I’ve also been able to accomplish a lot of stuff myself. I can get to where I set my mind to. My goals – I can make those reality,” she said.

Griselda continues to attend training sessions at the SDHC Achievement Academy to help her with her next steps.

She wants to work full time in accounting, hopefully with her current employer — or get a second part-time job in accounting — and go back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree.

“I can’t thank the Achievement Academy enough. I didn’t get this kind of help anywhere else,” Griselda said.