Access for All: A Story of Hope

A cold Pontiac Grand Am doesn’t provide a restful night’s sleep in the dead of winter, but for La’Tasha Smith, it was home for nearly a year. La’Tasha knew she needed a way out, so when she learned about United Way's Access for All program, which provides entry into the skilled trades workforce, she enrolled. Committing to the class is equivalent to a full-time job, and La’Tasha already worked two jobs just to make enough for gas, food and other basic necessities. 

Being homeless is expensive. For La’Tasha, every meal meant a restaurant tab and a hot shower required a gym membership.

“I need Access for All to be access to a home,” La’Tasha said. “I need to have access to employment. I need access to a safe environment. I need access to clean water. I need access to other opportunities.”

Made possible through donor support, the program has been a success, connecting 81 percent of graduates with jobs as laborers, equipment operators, sheet metal workers, carpenters and bricklayers.

‘He ended his life and mine as well’

La’Tasha’s situation wasn’t always so dire. In 2014, she had a good job, working security at a high-rise office building. But in an instant, everything changed.

La’Tasha was making her rounds at work when a man jumped to his death from the roof of the parking structure. She blamed herself and began seeing a therapist following the incident but was ultimately laid off for medical reasons.

“My life started to down spiral,” she said. “It was almost like he ended his life and mine as well. I was abusing alcohol because I needed to sleep. I needed to get those images out of my head.”

At her lowest point, she received the wake-up call she needed when her 2-year-old niece entered her room and picked up La’Tasha’s cup, which was full of liquor. 

“At that moment, I knew I had to come back to reality,” she said. “I had to save myself. She fueled that fire that I needed to be re-lit.”

The sky's the limit

Thanks to the support of United Way donors, La'Tasha had a place to turn after she received that wake-up call. Over the course of 13 weeks, she learned about various skilled trades and gained an interest in machinery.

About a month after graduation, La’Tasha found a job in the field. She operates a roller, compacting sand prior to rock and asphalt being laid on roadways.  Additional donor support will allow United Way to expand this program and connect more jobseekers like La'Tasha with the skills they need for good jobs.

“It has been life changing,” she said. “I have learned so much. Access for All sent me on my way with everything I needed.”

La’Tasha continued to live out of her car for more than three months after she began her new job, saving money, organizing her paperwork and looking for the right home. While waiting for circumstances to align, La’Tasha learned about other United Way resources, like budget coaching, which she participated in to get her finances in order. She connected with United Way-funded partners for help with a down payment for her home and furnishings, like a bed. Finally, after almost 10 months of living in that Grand Am, she moved into a townhouse.

“The journey has been long,” she said. “Finally, I can say it’s mine. I can call it home. I’m not staying here — I can actually live here.”

Her eyes welled with tears as she signed her lease papers but, ever smiling, she kept her composure and laughed at it all. She reached her goals, all thanks to dedicated United Way donors.

“I think the sky’s the limit now,” she said. “Access for All put me in the right position and connected me with the right individuals to make things happen, and in the end, everything fell into place."

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