Ashley found herself out of a job with the closure of Robertshaw. She had worked there for 10 years as a Machine Operator earning $13.56 per hour. She was a high school graduate but didn’t have many skills to offer employers and few job options.
Hector was in his mid-forties, supporting a wife and 2 children, when he was laid off from Honeywell. Hector had been employed at Honeywell since graduating from high school in 1994, and expected to work there until retirement.
Buba, a 24-year old mother of an 8-year-old daughter, was fleeing a violent environment in Eritea, Africa when she entered the United States as a refugee. Determined to succeed, Bubba enrolled in the Polysomnography program at the College of DuPage through WIOA grant funded assistance.
“I feel great, I’m back in my boys’ lives, I’m making money, life is good and my confidence is good,” is what Karl said after receiving career services at the South Suburban Cook County American Job Center at Prairie State College (AJC).
Michael, a 17-year-old ex-high school student, enrolled in the “Connect to Your Future” youth program at the Workforce Services Division of Will County to earn his GED. While in the program Mike was placed in a six-month paid internship.