Tiffany moved to the Metro area about eight years ago, first living in a woman’s shelter. Today, she’s making a better life everyday for herself and her six-year-old daughter.
Tiffany first sought PPL’s services when, newly married, she became pregnant at the very same time her husband was sentenced to six years in prison.
“I was on public assistance and didn’t want to be,” said Tiffany. “But that was really the only way that I could afford food and get medical care.”
With determination and help from PPL’s welfare-to-work program, she found employment and got off public assistance a few years ago.
She says she’s faced a lot of ups and downs since then, and what seems to be a new struggle everyday – keeping a steady income, keeping a place to live, dealing with transportation.
“When you live paycheck to paycheck, it’s not an easy way to get ahead for yourself,” she said. But she doesn’t stop trying, whether it means facing an hour and a half bus commute, each way to her current job, or some other obstacle.
Last year, Tiffany joined the Center for Working Families and with the help of coaching, negotiated $30,000 of debt, asked for, and got, a raise and better benefits. She said the staff at the Center “helps me stay strong when at times I want to give up.”
Krissy Svensson, the employment counselor at the Center says it is Tiffany who is the inspiration: “She’s overcome so much in her life. She keeps positive and focused on attaining a better life. Boy, she’s a fighter.”
Tiffany says she hopes to own a house one day soon. Right now, with her husband just returning home, they are focusing on being a family. “We want to give our daughter the best life she can have and teach her not to make the mistakes that we have.”
“Tiffany has overcome so much in her life. She keeps positive and focused on attaining a better life.”
—Center for Working Families employment counselor