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Eaglevision Recently Recognized!
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Eaglevision Success Stories!
The success story of Terrence Jordan:
 Terrence is a participant in the youth program who participated in an Eaglevision Youth Work Experience for Senator Mark Jansen’s office beginning in early 2010. Through Terrence’s hard work and dedication to his position and the opportunity afforded to him, Senator Jansen wanted to recognize him with an award at the Capitol before other senators. This is the first time that one of Eaglevision’s participants has ever received such an honor! Congratulations to Terrence for demonstrating the leadership and dedication enhanced through a Youth Work Experience.
The success story of Tynesia Allen:
 Tynesia Allen has experienced a life of struggle. Her mother, a drug addict, made her home life extremely difficult. She took care of her siblings and lacked stability as her family moved from place to place after each eviction.
When she was 18, she learned she was pregnant. Because of her pregnancy, unstable home life and learning disability, school became much too difficult to focus on and she dropped out. She was depressed. “I felt like I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything for myself,” recalls Tynesia.
In 2007, Tynesia reclaimed her future and came to Capital Area Michigan Works!, determined to better her life for her and her family. Her boyfriend and father of her son had been a pillar of strength and continued to push her.
With the help of Eaglevision, Tynesia earned her GED and Certified Nursing Assistance training through Lansing Community College. Quickly after, she secured a part-time position at Tendercare West.
“I love my job. I love the residents I work with,” says Tynesia.
Tynesia’s goal is to become a nurse and is currently working on that goal by attending Lansing Community College, the first person in her family to attend college.
She is thankful of the support she received from Eaglevision and is now independent, working, gaining an education and providing for her son, David.
The success story of Wayne Sayre:
 Just wanted to share a short story with you all. The flower pots in front of the MPRI building had become overgrown with weeds and made the outside of the building look un-kept. Without prompting Wayne Sayre (an MPRI participant), weeded the pots and purchased flowers out of his pocket, though he is searching for employment and money was not overly available. Wayne’s small gesture of planting flowers not only impacted the participants around him but it spoke largely of his character and commitment to the MPRI program. I recognized this individual at Career Club with the story of responding to things in your environment that you can change. Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness turn into the break you have been waiting a lifetime for. This is the type of impact that we all make on the clients that we serve! -Derrick Jones (Associate Director MPRI)
The success story of Barry Jones:
 After spending nearly ten years incarcerated, Barry Jones had to start all over with his job, family and life. He had spent years climbing up the latter at various hotels, eventually becoming the general manager of a Super 8 Hotel. And then lost it all.
While in the prison, Barry used this time to earn his GED, knowing it would be crucial to building a new life for himself and his family. He started creating a plan for himself and had a goal of entering the hospitality field once again, a field he was passionate about.
Barry came to Capital Area Michigan Works! and through the Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative, he received employment assistance, transitional housing, job placement, counseling and various services to help him get back on his feet. Barry experienced some difficulties throughout the way including reclaiming his identity and gaining documentation necessary for obtaining employment. He’s confident he would be able to return to the workforce and work his way back up to the top.
After being released, Barry worked for Peckham before securing a security position at Causeway Bay Hotel. Barry is thankful for his job and loves it. “I see myself here for a long time. I love working with people and my co-workers are helpful.”
Barry plans to enroll at the University of Phoenix this winter and has goals of starting his own business.
The success story of Karen Alred:
 Before coming to Capital Area Michigan Works! in 2006, Karen was jobless and dealing with stresses including personal safety, single parenthood and suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. However, not long before that, Karen seemed to have it all.
Karen was a newlywed, providing for her family and working as a nurse in L.A. Yet, the stability in her life began to crumble when her husband began to abuse her. She returned to abusing alcohol as she had done earlier in life in the military, to cope with her husband’s abuse and the stress of her job.
Fearing for her safety, Karen, pregnant with her third child, left her husband and returned to Lansing with her children. However, her family in Lansing provided no support and a drinking related incident led to losing her job as an LPN. At this point in her life, Karen suffered from depression and didn’t know how she would provide for her family.
After losing almost everything she had, Karen came to Capital Area Michigan Works! to work with Eaglevision to rebuild her career. Many opportunities in the health field no longer existed for her after she lost her job. Karen was able to take another look at the health field and rediscover opportunities for herself. Karen took advantage of the No Worker Left Behind program and returned to school at New Horizons to complete the medical billing and coding program.
Her advanced computer skills and knowledge and experience in the health field led her to a great job as a Site Review Consultant for MedAssurant, a national company that provides insurance plans. This position allows Karen to work from home and spend more time with her children, which she was unable to do as a nurse.
Karen enjoys combining her knowledge from the health field and newly acquired IT skills and sees herself staying permanently with the company.
The success story of Kristi Correa:
 “I had a million excuses not to do something with my life,” says Kristi Correa. At the age of 16, her mother abandoned her and her younger brother who was 15 at the time. To care for herself and provide for her brother, she dropped out of high school and began working full-time as a florist.
When her brother turned 18, she felt he was old enough to be responsible of himself and she came to Capital Area Michigan Works! for help. She was eager to receive education and training in order to move forward in her life. The same month she enrolled through Eaglevision, Kristi earned her GED. She also completed the medical front office certification at New Horizons. From there, she worked as a legislative intern for the Michigan House of Representatives and this year as an information systems analyst intern for Delta Dental. Due to a hiring freeze at Delta Dental, she was unable to continue to work there past her internship as previous discussed. This setback still didn’t hold Kristi back.
Kristi is now participating in Capital Area Michigan Works!’ Youthbuild Program. The program provides paid training in construction while renovating homes in Lansing. She will earn her residential building license and safety certifications through the program. Her goal is to become a project manager once he she finishes with the nine month long program. She wants to use the computer skills learned from New Horizons and skills from her internships for her future position. Kristi has re-envisioned her future and sees only endless possibilities.
With a positive outlook on life and the birth of her son this past year, she has been able to reconcile with her mother and maintains a positive relationship with her. “The struggles shaped me into the person I am today. I’m a stronger person.”
The success story of Jason Thorn:
 Jason Thorn was unsatisfied with his position and wanted a career that better matched his skills and abilities. Prior to coming to Capital Area Michigan Works!, he was employed as an assistant manager for a long term care facility. Jason wanted to redefine his future and find employment that offered more stability and challenged him. Through Capital Area Michigan Works!, he worked with Eaglevision and received assistance in employment placement and acquiring professional clothing.
Jason completed an On-the-Job Training experience with Okemos Health and Rehabilitation Center, an Extendicare transitional care facility, in July 2009 and was soon placed as the Life Enrichment Director. The position is fast-paced and relationship oriented, which Jason enjoys. He provides cognitive, social, emotional and physical activities to the residents to provide meaningful experiences during their stay at the facility.
“I get to create meaningful experiences for the residents and help them,” says Jason. “I can see myself retiring from here.”
“Jason is an outstanding employee. He always gives 100 percent,” says the human resources manager at the center. “His compassion and positive attitude is felt by all those who are around him. He is caring to both the residents and his co-workers. We are honored to have Jason as a part of our Extendicare family.”
The success story of Sheila Jolley:
 Sheila Jolley was content with her customer service position with The News Group, a company she had been working with for seven years. That changed in 2007 when her job was abruptly moved to Canada.
“We all thought we would be able to keep our jobs,” says Sheila.
She took this setback and turned it into an opportunity to reinvent herself. She came to Capital Area Michigan Works! and took advantage of No Worker Left Behind and enrolled at New Horizons Computer Learning Center. After researching different career fields, Sheila enrolled into the medical billing and coding program confident she would be able to secure a meaningful career. While it was hard to balance school, a part-time job and her family, she knew it would be worth the struggle. It was also a personal challenge for Sheila to stick it out and finish the program.
“I failed before [in college] and dropped out. This was my second chance,” says Sheila.
She felt an immense amount of pressure to succeed. Through the year of school, Sheila relied on her husband for support and to help take care of her two children.
Shortly after finishing the medical billing and coding program, Sheila was offered a position at Meritain Health as a Debit Card Specialist in the Flexible Spending Department. She loves the daily challenges that come with her career and loves the working environment at Meritain. Most importantly, she loves that she can be both a mom and a successful professional in her career field.
In the future, Sheila would like to stay with and grow into higher positions at Meritain Health.
Lansing Woman Sheila Jolley Honored (Lansing State Journal)
- Kathryn Prater • kprater@lsj.com • February 4, 2010
LANSING -- When Sheila Jolley lost her job three years ago, she decided to reinvent herself professionally. The 30-year-old Lansing woman said she wanted to position herself to take advantage of the jobs of the future — those in the medical field, for instance — rather than holding positions easily outsourced or eliminated, especially in a down economy. With the help of Lansing-based work force development agency Capital Area Michigan Works, the mother of two toddlers went back to school to study medical billing and coding. Shortly after finishing her training, Jolley landed a job at Meritain Health in Okemos. “It was definitely a fork in the road for me because with in the economy in Michigan, it’s easy to be discouraged when you lose your job. But I decided I wanted to take it as a second chance to totally reinvent my career, my life,” she said. Michigan Works last week honored Jolley as a 2010 “Alumna of the Year.” She was one of several people statewide to be recognized for their work force achievements by Michigan Works’ regional units.
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