Tiffany Sowers was referred to the WIA Program by her Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare Program (VIEW) case manager at Culpeper Human Services. The VIEW program assisted Tiffany to obtain her Virginia driver’s license. Due to limited work experience Tiffany was placed at Full Circle Thrift Store as a volunteer: she quickly became a valuable member of the Full Circle team. As a result of her success Tiffany was referred to the WIA Program to help facilitate her full time employment.
Following completion of the initial WIA eligibility process, including the mandatory assessments, customer-service jobs were recommended for Tiffany’s consideration. This opened the door to an offering of a paid WIA internship with the goal that she would be considered for a full time position. The paid internship gave her the financial support that enabled Tiffany to secure a home for her family. Kathy Gordon, Manager, Full Circle Thrift, offered Tiffany a full-time position upon successful completion of her 90-day WIA internship.
An ability to enroll in both programs offers participants a combination of resources that would not be available otherwise. Tiffany is a great example of this and how the goal of self-sufficiency can be achieved!