Raising Up: Workforce | A Student Parent Short Film

Summary

Raising Up: Workforce is a short film by the Aspen Institute that chronicles the inspiring journey of student parents navigating the challenges of education, family, and workforce entry. It highlights the experiences of those like single parents and economically vulnerable individuals striving for better opportunities after graduation in San Antonio. Project Quest emerges as a beacon of hope, providing essential support, training, and placement services to equip participants for higher paying careers. This transformative initiative showcases the power of community collaboration in reshaping lives and creating generational change, illuminating how personal achievements can ripple through to uplift entire families.

Highlights

• San Antonio's economically vulnerable families face hurdles in accessing quality jobs. 🌆
• Project Quest supports graduates by offering free classes and job placement assistance. 📚
• Former employees of the closed Levi Strauss plant successfully transition thanks to community support initiatives. 🌟
• Project Quest helps over 500 participants annually secure jobs in high-demand sectors. 💼
• Graduates experience personal and familial transformations, breaking cycles of poverty. 💪

Key Takeaways

• Graduating is just the beginning of a new journey, especially for student parents navigating the workforce. 🎓
• Economic vulnerability in cities like San Antonio poses challenges, highlighting the need for better job opportunities. 💼
• Programs like Project Quest provide essential support to transition graduates into life-changing careers. 🌟
• Community collaboration is key in creating generational changes and sustainable futures for families. 🤝
• Investing in education and job training leads to empowered individuals who can lift up their families and communities. 📚

Overview

Raising Up: Workforce showcases the journey of student parents balancing education, family, and career in the backdrop of San Antonio's economic vulnerability. The film highlights the transition of graduates into new careers, spotlighting their struggles and triumph as they strive for better opportunities in the workforce.

Project Quest shines as a central support system for these individuals, providing training, financial assistance, and job placement services. This initiative helps graduates overcome barriers to high-demand careers, allowing them to break free from the clutches of poverty and create better futures for their families.

Through community collaboration and strategic partnerships, Project Quest not only uplifts individuals but also creates a ripple effect that benefits families and generations to come. The film poignantly captures how education and empowerment lead to transformative changes, resonating with viewers about the potential for growth and success.

Raising Up: Workforce | A Student Parent Short Film Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Good evening. I would like to welcome you to the San Antonio College Department of Nursing Education pinning ceremony. I finally did it. The long nights of homework. The long months of not having money. These very hard times emotionally. I did it. I'm finished with this chapter onto the next one. So it's kind of a mixture of being proud of myself
• 00:30 - 01:00 and being scared as well, because I don't really know what's out there for me just yet. Graduation only begins a different journey, especially if you're talking about single parents
• 01:00 - 01:30 possibly living in poverty who are surviving and providing for their families. But it's not easy to find a quality job after graduation. Okay, so turn on the stove. Do you want to squeeze the meat in there, or do you want me to do it? You can do it. I knew it was going to gross you out. It's always scary going into new career, especially for single parents, because it's hard to get a job afterwards. There are a lot of programs where it's like, okay, you graduated. Now what?
• 01:30 - 02:00 I'm going to do this because I don't want you to burn yourself. Me and my family live here in San Antonio, Texas. I've lived here my whole life. Usually I just come home after school, pick up my son, we make dinner, and I work in the evenings, so sometimes I just go straight to work Pour all of it in there, but around. Medical assistants don't usually get paid that much. So once I had my son, any money I made was for him. And I just wanted him to have more.
• 02:00 - 02:30 That's it. We wait. A lot of folks call me the people's champ. I do recreationally box, yes, but it's I think, from them watching like the debate and me advocating and securing what our constituents deserve. It's always a debate. It's always a fight. San Antonio is one of our state's most economically
• 02:30 - 03:00 vulnerable cities. Many families don't have access to basic necessities, and with that comes a lot of need and a lot of hardship. Yeah, growing up, a lot of this was single family homes. A lot of homes have been knocked down for a lot of this newer development. There's a rich history of labor organizing and the need to invest in quality jobs right here in San Antonio. So up here on the right, you have Emma Tenayuca Way to pay homage to labor organizer Emma, who helped
• 03:00 - 03:30 lead the pecan shellers strike. And further down, here is where folks would picket when they went on strike. Migrant farm workers also went on strike for quality wages and better working conditions. And at the same time, running parallel was the struggle with Levi's. In 1990, Levi Strauss was employing about 1200 predominantly women of color, Latinas. Shortly after the holidays in 1990, they announced that
• 03:30 - 04:00 they were closing. So about 1200 women lost their source of income. And the families, their stability and security. and we need to tell them, "You need to wake up." and realize that we need to invest in people. Us, right here. It's good to see you. Hi. How are you? Great, thank you.,
• 04:00 - 04:30 Councilwoman, good to see you again. Good to see you. Come on in, welcome. One of our top priorities is just ensuring that we increase access to all individuals for workforce training programs and job opportunities. And what that looks like is the Ready to Work Program, Project Quest, Goodwill has several initiatives as well and there's just a wealth of programs to invest in communities. Today holds special significance for Project Quest. As we gather to express our gratitude and appreciation to our valuable partners that make life changing success possible.
• 04:30 - 05:00 After the Levi Strauss facility closed, the women who were displaced by the closure, COPS/Metro, the local government, and local hospitals came together to create a program ensuring adults who want to go back to school get an education or training that leads to a life changing career. And that's where Project Quest came about. We have hundreds of community partners throughout the region, including the local government and business community, as well as private foundations. Thank you all for your continued support and belief in our mission to strengthen
• 05:00 - 05:30 the economy and transform lives for preparing individuals for in-demand living wage careers. In the most recent fiscal year, Project Quest has successfully placed 515 participants in good paying jobs within the industries of health care, I.T. trades and manufacturing. Project Quest has been doing its work for 31 years now. Our initial class was 150 participants. This is the class that attended the Bayer Electric program
• 05:30 - 06:00 through Project Quest. At the time, I had three kids, so it would be kind of hard trying to go to school and trying to maintain a job. But with Project Quest, I was able to get training and get paid versus just trying to work minimum wage and go to school. So thanks to Project Quest, It got me to where I'm at now. They offered me a better opportunity after I went through the program. It has impacted my family because I was able to provide for whatever they needed.
• 06:00 - 06:30 So when I got into the nursing program at San Antonio College, I went to the orientation and there was a table right before you entered the doors into the auditorium, and Project Quest said, "Hey, we'll pay for your classes." And that kind of stuck to me because I said, "Oh, you know, who wouldn't want to take free classes?" And they asked for certain requirements. I said, "Oh, I meet these requirements." Hi, Angela. Hi. Good to see you. Good to see you. How have you been?
• 06:30 - 07:00 I'm good. How are you? Good, thank you. Come on back. Okay. So Project Quest helps students graduate, and then they check in with us once we've graduated. They also help with placement and say, "Hey, there's a job fair here. We know this system is hiring." They help us with resumé building skills, getting that interview, and then Project Quest helps us with the interview too. So that always helps as well. So I wanted to talk to you today about a couple items that we need to take care of. So one of the main things, right, is just making sure that you have employment.
• 07:00 - 07:30 I already applied with Baptist. Okay. And so they made an offer Great. and so I'm going to accept it. Congratulations. Thank you. I have accepted a position with a local hospital, so I'll be doing my residency with them starting in February. Nursing is going to be my new career and so I'm excited, but I'm nervous. I know that the transition from finishing school to starting a job, I know that's a couple of months away. If you are ever in a position that you need assistance with rent or utilities or any other kind of assistance
• 07:30 - 08:00 that you may need, please reach out to me because that's what we're here for. Just because you're done with schooling doesn't mean that you're done with us, right? We want to make sure that we follow up with you even after you're employed, right? So we always want to make sure that we are keeping you in the loop and that you are good to go with everything. Okay? Okay. Sounds good. Awesome, I'll walk you out. All right. Thank you. I'm so happy for you. I'm so proud. It's been a long time coming, so I'm very excited for you. Thank you. We know that change happens generationally.
• 08:00 - 08:30 And so given the demographic of participants that we serve and that they're parents, we know firsthand, if you change a parent's life, you're changing a child's life. Either through increased wages, access to benefits, conversations about careers, conversations about opportunities. That translates to the children. And we're most proud of that. The fact that we are creating that second generation affect on our participants and their families. My mother and father have always been very hard workers
• 08:30 - 09:00 and have always instilled in us the importance of education and how you can lose your home, you could lose your job, but you can't lose your education. And my father provided that pathway for us to follow. So how was your day? It was good. Just working. I'm proud of my kids and what they accomplished. They have gone beyond my expectations. Before I was just going to be working the same job every day. But now, because of Project Quest, the possibilities are endless.
• 09:00 - 09:30 I can just keep going. Angela Ortiz. You did it. Don't cry, you're gonna make me cry. I hope that my son is proud of me, that he says, "My mom did it." Or, "My mom's a nurse." And I just hope that he sees all the work I put in.
• 09:30 - 10:00 So that way he does well in school and he doesn't have to wait as long as I did. So I feel like it's going to be a lot better for me and my son