By Melissa Conner
Dawn Stevens, a CDC-WORKs! Success Story
Today, Dawn Stevens is a confident young woman on track to complete her education and to become an early childhood educator. Her eyes light up when she talks about helping young children find their passion. “It’s really inspiring to work with small children,” Stevens explains, “because it’s all new to them.”
A few years ago, however, Stevens’s goal
of completing her education almost became impossible.
In 2005, Stevens was studying at California State University, Northridge, pursuing a degree in liberal studies and taking part in the multi-subject teaching credential program to become an elementary school teacher—when she found out she was expecting a daughter and decided to put her education on hold.
Two years later, when she was ready to resume her studies, Stevens was confronted with a domestic abuse situation so damaging that she and her young daughter were forced to leave home. “It was immediately thereafter,” Stevens recounts, “that I realized I was expecting my son.”
Single, homeless, and pregnant with her second child, Stevens spent the next few years moving from shelter to shelter in Los Angeles.
“Initially, we relocated to a motel where we sought refuge until my cash ran out,” Stevens recalls. “From there, getting into a shelter was difficult due to my pregnancy. Believe it or not, I didn’t fit into the correct categories for assistance.”
Stevens gave birth to her son, only to learn that her current shelter had run out of funding. The day of the shelter’s closure coincided with a scheduled surgery for her newborn. “I packed our things and headed to Children’s Hospital,” Stevens remembers, “not knowing where we would journey after the surgery.”
In an unexpected positive turn, Stevens was able to find housing at a new shelter—one that gave her the opportunity to work in an on-site preschool center, an experience that renewed her interest in the career that she had pursued years before. When she moved to the next shelter in east Los Angeles, she decided to “step out in faith” and travel to Los Angeles Valley College to see how she could resume her studies. This trip proved life-changing.
A Fresh Start
The Foundation for California Community Colleges is already in the business of changing lives through education, but stories about people like Dawn Stevens, who is currently a participant in the Foundation’s Child Development Careers–WORKs! (CDC-WORKs!) program, serve as a vivid reminder of the need for programs that can provide assistance to hardworking students who may not have the means to otherwise continue their education.
The Foundation has been operating CDC-WORKs! since 2004 as part of its Youth and Adult Services program. CDC-WORKs! recruits current or former cash aid recipients taking classes at California Community Colleges who wish to pursue a career in the field of early childhood education. The goal of the program is to increase the number of qualified child development teachers and to assist participants and their families in becoming economically self-sufficient.
“Many students have the commitment to education and the passion for child development,” explains Hillery Gladden, Youth and Adult Services Executive Director, “but they need that extra support to assist them in achieving their goals.”
Through her participation in CDC-WORKs!, Stevens was able to get both her career and her life back on track. When Stevens arrived on the Los Angeles Valley campus, she met Bonnie Rapp, the motivated and passionate CDC-WORKs! program facilitator. Under Rapp’s guidance, Stevens quickly became involved in the program, which combines education with training, resulting in qualified and confident participants, equipped to contribute both expertise and experience to the child development field.
According to Rapp, who teaches and is herself an alumna of Los Angeles Valley College, “Opportunity should be a right, not a privilege.” For Rapp, Dawn Stevens is a clear example of “how opportunity extended enables achievement.”
“Dawn came to me with a long list of problems,” says Rapp, “but with a contagious smile and the dream of being a preschool teacher. Today, after just one year in CDC-WORKs!, she has applied for her State Associate Teacher permit, is working off-campus in the child development field, and has been awarded two scholarships.”
“I’m grateful to have been there on the day Dawn first asked for assistance,” Rapp adds. “I’m grateful to be available daily for all who hold a dream but lack the opportunity to realize it.”
In her time at Los Angeles Valley College, Stevens has already completed most of her coursework and has made the Dean’s List. At the end of the 2010 Fall semester, after completing her practicum class, she will be a fully permitted preschool teacher.
She has also been able to locate stable housing through a local transitional program and now lives with her children in a small, one-bedroom apartment.
“It has been an arduous few years full of challenges as well as blessings,” says Stevens, “and I am excited to finally have a stable living environment for my kids while being able to get back on track with my educational goals and career objectives.”
When asked what CDC-WORKs! has meant to her, Stevens responds with passion, “I can’t emphasize enough what it has meant to my family. The program has been of tremendous assistance, and Bonnie has been a great mentor.”
Stevens’s future plans include obtaining a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with a multiple-subject teaching credential and perhaps going on for a master’s degree.
“Dawn has come through difficult times and not only survived, but flourished,” says Rapp. “She would be a great source of strength, support, and resources to any child under her care.”