Toni Wolf: We see it as an incredible opportunity. Employers are really looking for inclusive workforce, number one. And number two they're also opening up their own perspective and thinking to really be able to embrace people with disabilities. This is the time for us at MRC. This is the time for DTA and Empower to Employ.
Christianne Bernardi: I'm so happy about where this took me, like, it took me down a path with talking with my son he, he's so proud of me, like, and that right there in itself is just everything.
Meghan Fontaine: Christy came to us originally as a DTA client receiving cash assistance.
Christy: I found DTA. They helped me, and then down the line I met with Meg and she hooked me up with MRC through the Empower to Employ program.
Toni: The bureaucracy goes away, right, and it's the relationship that's in the forefront. That's really the key. And how do we take away so much much of the bureaucratic processes so that we can really be in front of the individual that really needs us.
Meg: We determined that the Empower to Employ Program was a perfect fit for her.
Elizabeth: You know she was definitely experiencing a myriad of different challenges at that point, so, you know, my priority was to assure her, you know, listen, we can make sure we can tackle X, Y, and Z, and make sure that you feel like you get to a certain point to be able to focus on employment.
Christy: Actually it just felt like a family to be honest. I was supported from the very start. I think I even cried when I first spoke to her on the phone. I was just like listen, I don't really trust easily, so just to hear her voice, just her calming, you know, presence, it just made me feel more confident.
Elizabeth: She felt really appreciative at that moment because, I guess, it might have been, like, her first time really working with a community provider and feeling heard.
Toni: Always thinking about the customer first, right, and what's the first--what's the entry point, right, and how to make that experience an enriching one, a real one, an authentic one.
Christy: Being able to open up about my addiction and my past, um, and helping people that are going through kind of the same things, I would recommend it to everyone, honestly. Here we are now, I have a job I feel great, like everything's going in the right direction.