Friday, October 29, 2010

The STAR Program Helps WSP Offenders Apply for College and Jobs



Sally Kearsley, President of the STAR Program's board
Several Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) offenders are obtaining jobs and working towards successful re-entries to society, thanks to Sally Kearsley, a volunteer for the Successful Transition and Re-entry (STAR) Project.
Kearsley is a retired educator who has been involved in the STAR Project since it began at WSP in 2005. She also serves as president of STAR’s board. She and her partner, Chris Young, assist offenders in the minimum and medium units build job resumes and fill out college applications. Kearsley estimates 250-300 resumes have been completed through the program to date.
“Kearsley was one of the founding board members of the STAR Project and has put a lot of work into the program,” said Executive Director Janet Narum. “She is at WSP nearly every afternoon, meeting with offenders and preparing them to go home—I don’t know what we would do without her volunteerism.”
Currently, Kearsley and Young are assisting 40 WSP offenders prepare for release. Several are interested in attending college once released—most are interested in 2-year degree programs and certificates—and are in need of financial assistance. Kearsley and other STAR mentors help the offenders fill out Federal Student Aid Forms (FAFSA) and are available to answer their questions.
Since offenders often are overwhelmed once released from prison, STAR mentors also aid them with every day activities such as: applying for food stamps, obtaining library and identification cards, transportation to Department of Social and Health Services offices and even grocery shopping.
The STAR mentors’ assistance in school and job applications and help with every-day-activities helps prevent joblessness as well as homelessness.
“My work with the STAR Program over the years has been very heartening,” said Kearsley.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Energy Assistance in Pierce County




Home Heating/Energy Services for low- income individuals include local weatherization and Energy assistance programs that are administered by the Pierce County Community Services Department/Community Action Programs, and by the Metropolitan Development Councel(MDC). Eligibility is determined by the total household income and the number of household members. County residents must apply at the Pierce County Department of Communtiy Services, Community Action Program, or one of its stelite office, and persons who live within the city limits(except Ruston) must apply at MDC. Both of these agencies have limited funding. Call for further information.
County residents can obtain the numbers of satelite centers by calling the main office toll free. The county program also offers persons who are homebound, for medical reasons, a mail in application. The agencies addresses and phone numbers are listed below:

Pierce County Communtiy Services

(253)-798-7240 or 1(800)562-0336

Information/Status Line: (253)798-3800
Appointment Line: 1(866)223-1068 (253)572-5557
(this line takes calls 24 hours a day/
7 days a week when funds are available)



Metropolitan Development Council

721 South Fawcett

Tacoma, WA 98402

(253)572-5557

Both of the agencies listed above have additonal limited funds for Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Power customers.
If you live inside the city limits of Tacoma contact Metropolitan Development council.
If you live outside the city limits of Tacoma contact Pierce County Community Services.
If you are not sure if you live inside or outside the city limits contact your utility coompany to find out.

Tacoma Power offers a reduced rate program for Senior citizens and/or disabled individuals that are income eligible. For more informatin contact: South Sound Outreach Services. (253)593-2111..



Water and Public Works Assistance


Eligibility:






  • Only available once in a 12 month period.




  • Must have a disconnect notice(you do not need to wait until your service has been disconnected).




  • Assistance is available for water, solid waste, wastewater, and surface water.




  • You must be a Tacoma Public Utilities customer and have the account in your name.




  • Household income must meet income guidelines.


Required Documentation-Please provide photocopies of the following:







  • Picture ID for all adults in the household.




  • Social Security cards for everyone in the household. (If children under 18 do not have Social Security cards, you may use DSHS medical coupon(s) or Birth Certificate(s).




  • Income verification for all household members for the three months prior to the month of your applications. (For example: if you are applying in April, we need your household income for January, February, and March).




  • Household adults with zero income must provide a Q1 or Q2 form from WorkSource on 13th and Tacoma Avenue.


Sunday, October 24, 2010

Just Ask Kiki?

Is your boss getting on your last nerves? I got tips to help you stay employed in a forever changing economy.

YOU By Janet Jackson

Listening to an old Janet Jackson cd. What a gem, just collecting dust. The 'All For You' DVD Edition! Had it for years an never really listened to it much. Woke up thinken about that man, with that song in my head 'Get Lonely.' Put it on. But the song that had me jumpen was 'You.' I'll post the video as soon as I get something in my stomache...been meditating, and trying to pray that man off my mind..Talken to him on the phone helped a lil. Smile...



Here I am in your face

Tellin' truths and not your old lies

Seems to me that you careAnd I know that you're runnin' out of time

See ya can't get away

I'll be here forever and again

Whisperin' in your ear

Do believe 'cause you know you cannot win



Spent most your life pretending not to be

The one you are but who you choose to see

Learned to survive in your fictitious world

Does what they think of you determine your worth

If special's what you feel when you're with them

Taken away, you feel less then again

That's right



Chorus:

You gotta mean what you say

You gotta say what you mean

Tryin' to please everyone

Sacrifice your own needs

Check in the mirror my friend

No lies will be told then

Pointin' the finger again

You can't blame nobody but you

Repeat Chorus



There's a feelin' inside

No you cannot change it right away

Gotta make it try

And with time it'll start to go away

I'll be here when you need

That one to sit and cry to

'Cause I'm the you you forgot

The only one you know you cannot lie to

Bitter you'll be if you don't change you ways

When you hate you, you hate everyone that day

Unleash this scared child that you've grown into

You cannot run for you can't hide from you

Can't hide from you



That's right



Repeat Chorus

GOD AS HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD!




OBSERVATION:
If you allow God to be head of your home, he will bless your family life!


INSPIRATION:
Perhaps the most taxing of all, are the years a family finds itself in and out of crisis situations. Little babies that cooed and gurgled grow up into challenging, independent-thinking adolescents. The protective, sheltered environment of the home is broken into by the school, new friends, alien philosophies, financial strain, illness, accidents, hard questions, constant decisions, and busy schedules...and it isn't difficult to feel the pressure mounting-especially when you add dating, new drivers in the family, leaving for college, talk of marriage, and moving out. Whew!! And what does God say about these years?...
He says we'll be "blessed." We'll be "happy: It will "be well" with us during these years...In the family portrayed on this scriptural canvas, "the Lord" is still central!

Even before you finish,...it may be the right time for you to come to terms with the truth regarding your family. I must be honest with you, in most of the family conflicts I have dealt with involving trouble with teenagers, the problem has been more with parents who were either to liberal and permissive or too inflexible, distant, rigid(and sometimes too hypocritical) than with teenagers who were un-willing to cooperate. When the modeling is as it should be, there is seldom much trouble from those who fall under the shadow of the leader.. Strengthening your grip on the family may start with an unguarded appraisal of the leadership your family is expected to follow.
From: Strengthening Your Grip
By: Charles Swindoll

APPLICATION: Do you look forward to going home or do you dread it? Is God the head of your home? Pray for your family daily. Memorize a favorite psalm as a family. After dinner, read a chapter from the Bible every day for a month.

EXPLORATION:
Marriage and Family-Genenis 2:18-25; Exodus 20:12; Mathew 19:5-6;
Mark 7:9-13; Ephesians 5:22-33

Friday, October 22, 2010

God's Protection of Women

Just click on pic to go to site. Order your free brochures now..
When Abuse is Worse Than Divorce

God's Protection of Women (Booklet)
Product Number: Q0807
Marriage is meant to protect a lifetime of love. The permanence of a husband-wife relationship rests on a covenant of mutual commitment that is designed to survive normal and even serious marital conflict. Sometimes, however, verbal and physical abuse do to a marriage what murder or rape does to a life. What then? What if efforts to save a marriage result in the compounded loss of peace and trust in the home?
In the following pages, Herb Vander Lugt, longtime church pastor and RBC senior research editor, opens the Bible to show that Moses, Jesus, and Paul all recognized that some marital conditions are worse than divorce.

President Obama to push Congress on pay-fairness bill


WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to press Congress today to pass pay-equity legislation that would make it easier for women to sue employers who pay them less than their male counterparts, the White House said Monday.
"Women deserve equal pay," White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said in an interview, citing government statistics that show women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. "It's a very fundamental right."
Obama will announce his support for the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that has languished in Congress for several years. In 2007, President Bush warned he would veto the bill, and it has been stalled by opposition from some Republicans and business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The bill passed in the House in 2009, but did not get through the Senate. Its prospects there remain unclear.
"The bill is a cruel hoax. It won't empower women who face pay discrimination, but it will empower trial lawyers whose junk lawsuits will clog up the courts and make it hard for businesses to grow and hire," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.
The bill would:
• Put gender-based wage discrimination on par with other forms of wage discrimination, such as that based on race, by allowing women to sue for compensatory and punitive damages, rather than just for back pay.
• Limit the legitimate reasons employers can give in court for wage disparities.
• Prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who discuss their wages.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which urges Congress to pass the law, says the measure would provide needed updates to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which included only limited enforcement provisions.
"Due to rising unemployment rates, families need to bring home every dollar they rightfully earn, making pay equity even more necessary, not only to families' economic security but also to the nation's economic recovery," the ACLU's Laura Murphy said in a July 13 letter to senators.
Jarrett called the legislation a needed "companion" to the Lilly Ledbetter Act, signed by Obama in 2009, days after he took office. Named for a former Goodyear employee who sued for back wages, the Ledbetter Act extended a 180-day statute of limitations on workers' ability to sue for pay discrimination.
Despite opposition from the chamber, Jarrett said she believes most CEOs will support the bill. "It's fair, balanced and reasonable," she said.
A White House task force plans to announce today that the Obama administration will:
• Improve the government's data collection from businesses to get a better handle on the scope of wage discrimination.
• Close the wage gap among federal employees.
• Promote greater workplace flexibility. Vice President Biden, noting that two-thirds of households with children are run by working parents, said, "The workplace has, for the most part, not changed to reflect these realities — and it must."