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Monday, August 14, 2006
Brian Rizzo & Christine Racosky defrauding another landlord.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
More welfare fraud...Christine Racosky
Recharging their lives
By CRISSA SHOEMAKER DEBREE
Bucks County Courier Times
Three years ago, Joy Miller was struggling to make ends meet and raise her three kids by herself.
Today, Miller is a homeowner who enjoys paying her mortgage — because she can. She has a high-paying job in the information technology field and a bright future ahead of her.
"I could have never guessed that I would be living on my own," said Miller, 32, of Telford. "It's all on me. That's 'wow' in itself."
Miller has the Bucks County Housing Group to thank. The single mom was one of the first graduates of the housing group's Cisco Systems Networking Academy, a nine-month program that trains lowincome residents to be computer technicians.
But the academy isn't your typical computer class.
For starters, graduates receive two certifications: A+, which focuses on installation, configuration, diagnosis, preventative maintenance and basic networking; and Cisco Certified Networking Associate, a prerequisite for any future Cisco certification. Both are highly sought-after in the industry, and cost thousands of dollars to obtain elsewhere.
"Those certifications you can take anywhere in the country and the world," said Chris Krizan, a deputy director of the housing group. "They're highly valued in the industry."
The booming IT field is also helping the students. According to the Yoh Index of Technology Wages, salaries for technology professionals are growing, despite a slowdown in hiring in other industries. Average wages range from $46.12 an hour for a network engineer to $89.16 for an application-specific integrated circuit design engineer.
The students are well aware of the potential.
"It's not a job; it's a career," said Christine Racosky of Quakertown. "I've taken other jobs and said they could become a career for me. Those were dead ends."
Racosky, 29, is one of 11 students, all on welfare, enrolled in the program.
"Things happen," Racosky said. "Life throws a roadblock at you. You find a way to survive. For me, it's my children. Very soon, I can give them the things I can't afford to give them right now and have a career that has room for advancement."
The program doesn't just teach computer networking skills. Participants must go through job readiness and life skills training, and receive help with job searches. They have a four-week internship at the end of the academy. And almost all are hired right out of the internship, Krizan said.
But success isn't handed to these students.
They're expected to be in class, which lasts all day. If they can't make it, they have to call. They also must study at least two hours a night.
To make sure they succeed, the housing group helps the students with basic needs. The agency provides gas money that makes up the gap between the welfare subsidy — 12 cents a mile — and the actual price of gasoline. The agency also provides one-on-one tutoring sessions and makes arrangements to help students tend to their families.
"I felt I had an angel on my back," said Monique Roye of Morrisville.
Roye, 28, will complete her computer training next month. She said the housing group not only helped her pay for gas for her trips to her son's daycare center in Trenton, but also helped her get a car.
"If they didn't have the services they had available, there'd be no way I could do this program," she said.
Roye said she studies for hours every night after her two sons are in bed and has gone from not knowing what a motherboard was to being able to install one.
"It should be anybody's goal," she said. "If you're going to do it, you should do it 120 percent. There's no half-stepping it."
Employers participating in the program include Toll Brothers, Verizon, Comcast and St. Mary Medical Center. Many have hired more than one graduate, Krizan said.
The housing group spends about $10,000 on each student, Krizan said. Corporate and government donations have covered the cost of the program in the past, but those grants are temporary. A shrinking pool of public money makes it all the more difficult for the housing group to compete, Krizan said.
A $400,000 grant from Wachovia kick-started the program. The current class is funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. The department was to fund another 15 students this year, but the budget has been cut.
Krizan said funding agencies doubt the program works. But she just has to point to success stories like Miller to prove them wrong.
Miller had just gotten divorced when she heard about the academy. A stay-athome mom for 10 years, she had no recent job skills. A friend took in her and her three children.
Three years later, Miller bought her friend's home. She's a network engineer for Toll Brothers, the luxury homebuilder, in Horsham.
"I had no idea that this much success would come out of it," she said of the program. "I'm up there with the guys. I'm an equal. It's great."
Crissa Shoemaker Debree can be reached at 215-949-4192 or cshoemaker@phillyBurbs.com.
By CRISSA SHOEMAKER DEBREE
Bucks County Courier Times
Three years ago, Joy Miller was struggling to make ends meet and raise her three kids by herself.
Today, Miller is a homeowner who enjoys paying her mortgage — because she can. She has a high-paying job in the information technology field and a bright future ahead of her.
"I could have never guessed that I would be living on my own," said Miller, 32, of Telford. "It's all on me. That's 'wow' in itself."
Miller has the Bucks County Housing Group to thank. The single mom was one of the first graduates of the housing group's Cisco Systems Networking Academy, a nine-month program that trains lowincome residents to be computer technicians.
But the academy isn't your typical computer class.
For starters, graduates receive two certifications: A+, which focuses on installation, configuration, diagnosis, preventative maintenance and basic networking; and Cisco Certified Networking Associate, a prerequisite for any future Cisco certification. Both are highly sought-after in the industry, and cost thousands of dollars to obtain elsewhere.
"Those certifications you can take anywhere in the country and the world," said Chris Krizan, a deputy director of the housing group. "They're highly valued in the industry."
The booming IT field is also helping the students. According to the Yoh Index of Technology Wages, salaries for technology professionals are growing, despite a slowdown in hiring in other industries. Average wages range from $46.12 an hour for a network engineer to $89.16 for an application-specific integrated circuit design engineer.
The students are well aware of the potential.
"It's not a job; it's a career," said Christine Racosky of Quakertown. "I've taken other jobs and said they could become a career for me. Those were dead ends."
Racosky, 29, is one of 11 students, all on welfare, enrolled in the program.
"Things happen," Racosky said. "Life throws a roadblock at you. You find a way to survive. For me, it's my children. Very soon, I can give them the things I can't afford to give them right now and have a career that has room for advancement."
The program doesn't just teach computer networking skills. Participants must go through job readiness and life skills training, and receive help with job searches. They have a four-week internship at the end of the academy. And almost all are hired right out of the internship, Krizan said.
But success isn't handed to these students.
They're expected to be in class, which lasts all day. If they can't make it, they have to call. They also must study at least two hours a night.
To make sure they succeed, the housing group helps the students with basic needs. The agency provides gas money that makes up the gap between the welfare subsidy — 12 cents a mile — and the actual price of gasoline. The agency also provides one-on-one tutoring sessions and makes arrangements to help students tend to their families.
"I felt I had an angel on my back," said Monique Roye of Morrisville.
Roye, 28, will complete her computer training next month. She said the housing group not only helped her pay for gas for her trips to her son's daycare center in Trenton, but also helped her get a car.
"If they didn't have the services they had available, there'd be no way I could do this program," she said.
Roye said she studies for hours every night after her two sons are in bed and has gone from not knowing what a motherboard was to being able to install one.
"It should be anybody's goal," she said. "If you're going to do it, you should do it 120 percent. There's no half-stepping it."
Employers participating in the program include Toll Brothers, Verizon, Comcast and St. Mary Medical Center. Many have hired more than one graduate, Krizan said.
The housing group spends about $10,000 on each student, Krizan said. Corporate and government donations have covered the cost of the program in the past, but those grants are temporary. A shrinking pool of public money makes it all the more difficult for the housing group to compete, Krizan said.
A $400,000 grant from Wachovia kick-started the program. The current class is funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. The department was to fund another 15 students this year, but the budget has been cut.
Krizan said funding agencies doubt the program works. But she just has to point to success stories like Miller to prove them wrong.
Miller had just gotten divorced when she heard about the academy. A stay-athome mom for 10 years, she had no recent job skills. A friend took in her and her three children.
Three years later, Miller bought her friend's home. She's a network engineer for Toll Brothers, the luxury homebuilder, in Horsham.
"I had no idea that this much success would come out of it," she said of the program. "I'm up there with the guys. I'm an equal. It's great."
Crissa Shoemaker Debree can be reached at 215-949-4192 or cshoemaker@phillyBurbs.com.
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