Even for Jobs for Life graduates like Sonya, the road to employment promises to be a bumpy ride, especially during a national recession. Yet Hope for the Inner City’s job-readiness program imparts valuable character-building skills that have kept Sonya keep moving toward her goals, regardless of today's economic climate.

Though she did not immediately find work after Jobs for Life, Sonya plotted a different course, one which promises to open more doors for her in the future.

“I’m out here looking for a job, and there is really no one hiring,” says Sonya. “I thought, ‘Maybe I need to go back to school.’ ”

Taking the Next Step

Sonya, who graduated from Howard High School in 1995, decided it was time to take the next step in continuing her education. She is now enrolled at Chattanooga State Community College, pursuing a degree in business management.

Working to support her three sons on a high school diploma has been a strain, and Sonya often wonders if she waited too long pursue higher education.

“I wish I went on to [college] after I graduated from high school,” she says. “I have three kids, and I at least want to have money for them when they get older.”

But in graduating from a school like Howard—where, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the graduation rate was less than 60 percent for two out of the last three years, and where 82 arrests were made on campus in 2010—Sonya demonstrated her unusual sense of courage and determination early on. These are values that Jobs for Life’s biblically based instruction, personal mentoring and soft-skills training have helped strengthen.

Following in Her Father's Footsteps

In a dim job market—Tennessee’s unemployment rate for September 2011 was just shy of 10 percent—Sonya is still pursuing her dream. After completing her studies in business, she plans to go into retail, with aspirations of one day creating her own small business.

“I want to open my own [clothing] store by Hamilton Place Mall,” she says. “I like clothes. I like fashion.”

Sonya’s store would outfit families, a business model that suits this devoted mom’s commitment to her own family.

“I want to be able to sell clothes to fit everybody,” she says. “[We’ll also have] shoes, purses, jewelry.”

Sonya gives credit to her father, who owns his own paving and asphalt business, for inspiring her entrepreneurial spirit.

“I’m following in my daddy’s footsteps,” she says.