Success Stories
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Success Story Spotlight
Roscoe Rutherford
Roscoe Rutherford was one of 50,000 inmates incarcerated in the State of Michigan in 2009. With the hopes of succeeding upon his release, Rutherford enrolled in to OLHSA’s Responsible Fatherhood Program while incarcerated at the Macomb Regional Facility (a maximum security prison in southeast Michigan). Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services / Office of Family Assistance, the Responsible Fatherhood Program is a marriage and relationship enhancement program designed to support incarcerated fathers and their partners.
Rutherford struggled with his role of being an incarcerated father and eagerly participated in, and completed Parenting Classes and Relationship Enhancement Classes. These classes helped him to better prepare for his upcoming reunification with his family and community. Upon his release Rutherford embarked on the journey of leaving behind the lost moments that his incarceration had taken from him and his family, and poured his efforts into developing and building those precious family bonds that remained. To support his relationship, Rutherford and his partner participated in and completed an eight-hour Couples Relationship Enhancement Workshop. This workshop is designed to support couples impacted by incarceration by introducing effective communication techniques and providing opportunity to rediscover each other. The workshop concentrates emphasis on the value of a father’s role in the family unit. In addition, Rutherford also received employment support, and supplemental support services, which included assistance with transportation, personal hygiene and medical needs. Since enrolling in the Responsible Fatherhood Program, Rutherford has shown the tenacity to become actively involved in all services offered in the program. He connects regularly with staff, whose primary job is to support and encourage his success. These days Rutherford and his family have stability and happiness formed in large part through their involvement with OLHSA. They are homeowners, with reliable transportation, and work each day to further strengthen their relationships. Rutherford has successfully maintained employment and is fully invested in his role as a father and partner. He is aware that true success is shown in a steady pattern of appropriate choices with much strength and determination. Rutherford recently met with the Responsible Fatherhood Program’s Federal Project Officer where he stated that because of OLHSA’s Responsible Fatherhood Program his relationship with his partner is wonderful and his life after prison is going great.
Theresa Hobbs was Struggling in 2006
As a single mom supporting two kids (a teenage son and younger daughter) she felt at a loss for how to turn the $10.50/hr that she earned as a certified nurse assistant into a leg-up for her family. Each month was competition for which bill would get paid and which ones would continue to stare up at her from the counter, opened yet unattended to. She knew she could do better, knew there were many skills she hadn’t learned growing up that could help her family get ahead, so she found her way to the Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS) and OLHSA.
FSS, facilitated through OLHSA, works with families in need to develop success strategies and teach financial management skills, while offering a savings account funded by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). MSHDA helps the family pay rent, easing the financial burden, and stressing the importance of homeownership as a goal. The head of the household must remain employed and strive to further their career through pay increases. Each time pay is increased the family is responsible for a larger percentage of rent. The money that MSHDA saves when the family pays more of their own rent is put into an escrow account, accumulating until the family leaves the program. Entering into the program was like taking a deep breath of fresh air for Theresa. For the first time in her life she learned how to make a monthly budget, how to prioritize her family’s expenses, and she began to feel that one day they would stand successfully on their own. She took full advantage of all the classes offered by the program and she met each required milestone with gumption and determination.
Paula Reid-Wright, FSS Program Coordinator at OLHSA, couldn’t say enough good things about working with Theresa. “She is my shining star,” said Paula, “and she has come so far.”
The four years Theresa spent in the program changed her life. She now earns $13.90/hr — a staggering 32 percent increase in pay from when she entered the program in 2006. She went from having no savings and no hope of affording a college degree, to accumulating $16,000 through MSHDA’s contributions to her escrow account — a thrilling amount of money for most Americans. Theresa has leveraged that precious money into a real advantage for her family. She paid off her car, paid bills that had been haunting her for quite some time, purchased desperately needed clothing for herself and her kids, and is currently pursuing a college degree through Wayne County Community College. Theresa and her children have felt the benefit of saving for the future, and they continue to save on their own after leaving the program. Theresa’s kids are planning to one day graduate from college — a goal that is now well within Paula Reid-Wright, FSS Program Coordinator at OLHSA, couldn’t say enough good things about working with Theresa. “She is my shining star,” said Paula, “and she has come so far.”
