Martha once worked at a school for disabled children. While at the school, she helped feed the children during lunch and snack times. She worked each day and was paid $10.00. She said she quit this job when she witnessed a teaching assistant hitting one of the children. She had requested that the assistant be fired but when this didn't happen she felt too frustrated and upset to continue working at the school. She has also been employed in positions that were created specifically for adults with developmental disabilities, such as working in a sheltered workshop and watering plants in government buildings. Her goal is to find a job in a childcare setting with children who may or may not have disabilities.

Martha was in the literacy program for adults with a developmental disability when she saw Tom transfer to the employment preparation program. She was motivated by his transition into the program and one year later asked if she too could try the program.

PROFILE SUMMARY

The profiles illuminate a key issue that needs to be highlighted before examining the program because of its impact on both the students and the extent to which the employment preparation program can affect any real change in their lives. A socioeconomic reality that all but one of the eight students face is their struggle to obtain employment that will allow them to support themselves. They all want to find work, but without credentials or work experience, with minimal levels of literacy and formal education, with children and childcare challenges, and with visible minority status and disabilities, they face multiple challenges and barriers, and are unlikely to be able to support themselves through employment. The only jobs they will likely be able to obtain are low–wage service industry jobs that have no security, no benefits, and little status.

Only Marion, who is married and living with her husband, does not depend on some form of social assistance; Rouda, Stacey, Maritza, and Hannah are single mothers and receive general welfare; Martha and Tom have a developmental disability and receive a disability pension; and Nadine, who is single, also receives general welfare. It is the single mothers along with Tom and Martha whose employment goals must be carefully considered and weighed against their current incomes. Rouda wants nothing more than to find full–time employment in order to not be dependent on welfare, but she has six children to support, lives in a subsidized home, does not have to pay the full cost of prescription drugs, has access of finding a job without credentials, and recognized training that could cover her monthly expenses, is poor. Even full–time work at one of the school board's childcare centres would not be enough to independently support her and her family. Only Nadine, who is single, could possibly hope to earn enough from full-time employment to support herself. She is also on a waiting list to live in a subsidized apartment, and would have to measure potential income with the value of assistance that she received.