Angeline Sullivan’s long career serving her community has been guided by a simple mission.
“I have always wanted,” Angeline says, “to help change lives and overcome barriers.”
Today, as an Instructor with our partners YWCA Seattle | Snohomish | King for our new job readiness training program, CareerWork$® Ready, Angeline is doing just that. As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on local economies and the workforce, particularly in retail and hospitality, the CareerWork$ team quickly saw a huge need for free job readiness training. We designed the program for individuals seeking their first job, as well as those who are looking to re-enter the workforce in a broad range of industries.
Angeline helps her students identify those opportunities by drawing on her long career with non-profit organizations focused on underserved communities. A Seattle native, Angeline began her career in childcare and working with foster youth and as a youth case manager, where she helped young people with employment and education.
More than a decade ago, Angeline joined the YWCA team as a Rapid Rehousing Case Manager, working with people who had barriers to housing. Soon, the YWCA recruited Angeline for a Career Navigator role with YWCA for our BankWork$ program and helping expand it from Los Angeles and establishing the program in Seattle.
Angeline shadowed BankWork$ instructors and attended classes in Los Angeles, while also shadowing the job fair and interview process.
Angeline’s experience helping grow BankWork$ in Seattle means she’s hitting the ground running with our CareerWork$ Ready program.
“CareerWork$ Ready is starting to speak for itself. The program recruits for you. People know about it and are asking about it, and a lot of students are referring their family and friends. This is a program designed and developed to address the employment gap that widened during the pandemic,” says Angeline. “It draws on existing relationships with employers and we understand who is hiring, and what needs they have, and what opportunities there are.”
And students are seeing success in new careers. Since she began teaching CareerWork$ Ready, Angeline has helped students graduate and launch careers in a wide range of new industries – from data analysis for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, to the maritime industry, to e-commerce, to banking.
For potential employers, Angeline wants them to know that “CareerWork$ Ready graduates are “prepared.”
“They are serious. All of them made their minds up that they wanted to change their lives for the better and start or change their careers. They studied, they put the work in, put this program first, and fully focused. I have no doubt that they would do the same thing in a new role.”
Angeline continues to celebrate – and be motivated by – her students’ success.
“I know I’m not the one doing the work for them, but being a witness to their work has been the most rewarding part of my job. I have students from a decade ago who still check in with me and update me on all kinds of milestones: marriage, children, owning their first home, and even owning a small business. So much success has come from BankWork$ and CareerWork$ Ready. It’s a privilege to be part of it.”
The CareerWork$ Ready class offered through our partners YWCA and with Angeline is fully virtual and available to anyone. Learn more, refer others, and apply here: https://billerfamilyfoundation.org/careerworks/careerworksready/.
