THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160407
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
Gayland George enjoys the mile-and-a-half walk from her attic apartment in Villa Heights to the makeshift classroom in Park Place.
She doesn't mind much the shiny scatterings of broken glass on the sidewalks or the comments of men she passes. Sometimes, though, she thinks of the boarded-up houses and unkempt vacant lots, and wonders about the waste.
Still, the route is familiar as George ventures toward the unknowns of a new career. It's also a measure of her determination and independence.
``Yes, I'm going to make it because I wouldn't be walking if I wasn't going to make it,'' George said, ending her statement with a typical from-deep-in-the-chest laugh.
George, 41, a laid-off shipyard worker, is seeking a job as ``a big restaurant cook'' where she can show off her true talents, not just put in hours for a paycheck.
Her path has taken her into the ``urban apprenticeship'' program of Norfolk Works Inc., where counselors and instructors like Preston Watkins tell her to think ``career'' not just ``job.''
That means determining a long-range objective, learning and practicing skills to achieve it and keeping track of accomplishments along the way. It also will involve working other jobs and attending more classes - but now with a long-range purpose in mind.
Norfolk Works, an agency set up by the city and the NorfolkRedevelopment and Housing Authority, will guide and track the students for up to four years. The program is funded by a $3 million federal ``enterprise community'' grant.
Another grant - $100,000 from the Dalis Foundation - paid for much of the computer equipment that Norfolk Works uses to compile ``electronic portfolios'' on each urban apprentice. That part is coordinated by the Norfolk campus of Tidewater Community College.
The idea of the electronic portfolio is to show a progression of skills, education and responsibilities. It will include records of volunteer service as well as academic and job performance. The information will be shared with potential employers who have committed to interviewing the urban apprentices.
Gayland George's eyes widened the first time her electronic portfolio materialized on the computer screen in counselor Jane Carter's office.
Those eyes kept pulling toward the bright screen as Carter asked more questions and added the biographical information to the portfolio.
``What would you say are some of your skills and strengths?'' Carter asked George.
``My strength is that I've worked my butt off all my life,'' George replied.
Carter nodded.
``I like to work with my hands,'' George added.
The more they talk, the more layers Carter discovers about George's life. Norfolk Vo-Tech. Maritime Training Institute. Housekeeping at a motel in Ocean View. Cashier jobs. Brief stints as a short-order cook many years ago.
George's first move toward a career came even before learning of Norfolk Works.
In the fall of 1993, she'd been laid off by a local shipyard. Yet again.
Seventeen years off and on at shipyards. Pipefitter helper. Shipfitter helper. Cleaning storage tanks. Chipping paint. Fire watching. Night security. Shoveling the debris left from sandblasting.
``Whatever they needed me for,'' she said, but then fumed: ``Every time I turned around, I got laid off. I was tired of being laid off.''
That last time, George recalled, she said to herself, ``I'm going back to school.''
She decided to get that high school degree she missed after dropping out of Granby High in the 11th grade. That was 1971.
``I was on the drill team, so I thought I was top-notch. I knew I was going to make it. Then I got pregnant. It was like, `Damn!' '' George said.
``I was popular with all the guys. That's probably how I got the baby. I went out too much,'' she said. ``I was too popular.''
George said she and the baby lived at her mother's home for nearly another two years.
``My momma said, `It was time for you to go out and see what responsibility is.' And once you have a baby and you still live with your parents, you never grow up. I don't care how old you are,'' George remembered.
Her first apartment was at 31st Street and Llewellyn Avenue. It's gone, now the site of one of those vacant lots that George encounters while walking to class.
George also thinks about what she's learning this summer in the urban apprenticeship program. ``They're training you how to do resumes, and fill out applications, learning you how to dress appropriately as far as job interviews, training you how to go on a job interview - what to say, what not to say,'' she said.
She listens closely as instructor Preston Watkins reviews the resumes of each urban apprentice in front of the entire class.
This time, Watkins is going over each student's career objective. George sorts through a blue folder for her resume.
Her turn. ``Objective: To obtain a challenging position that will best utilize my work experience and skills.''
Together she and Watkins make changes, adding to ``skills'' the phrase ``.
George mouths the words as Watkins writes them on a board at the front of the classroom. He steps back, pressing together his thumb and forefinger as he studies the sentence.
``. . . with the opportunity for advancement,'' Watkins adds.
Next month, George takes her GED test. She'll find out a few weeks later whether she passed.
Meanwhile, Jane Carter will help George apply to cooking schools. ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos by Joseph John Kotlowski
Gayland George's path has taken her to a makeshift classroom in the
Park Place Community Development Center in Norfolk (above) and the
``urban apprenticeship'' program of Norfolk Works Inc., where she is
advised by counselors such as Jane Carter (right). George's goal: to
establish a career, not just find a job.
by CNB