Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning. This is Miami ValleyView. I am your host, Dave
Alexander, and this is a publicaffairs program brought to you by iHeartMedia,
Dayton and today we're talking in Power. It's with Damaris Crawford White, the
executive director of Empower. And ifyou're like me, I was like,
I don't know, not exactly surewhat empower is. So we are here
(00:21):
this morning to find out what it'sall about in Demorris. How are you?
I'm great, thank you, goodmorning. The house things today doing
well, I'm doing fabulous. Yeah. Yeah, So give us an idea.
First of all, what in Poweris now. It's not only an
Ohio thing, it's it's a it'sa national National Right NOP. It's a
national nonprofit. And essentially what wedo is train military veterans and their spouses
(00:45):
and also young adults eighteen to twentysix in technology and then assist them with
getting a job. Okay, So, and I understand it's pretty important because
you can you I mean yeah,in a job these days, you almost
have to note some sort of technology. You really have to have some sort
of skills if you want to earnmore than twelve dollars an hour. Our
(01:07):
positions usually pay on average about fortyeight thousand, so that's a pretty good
start. Pretty good start. It'sa twenty week program. Okay, it's
completely free. I don't know ifI mentioned that before. I did not,
Holy Cow completely free. We fundraise, make partnerships with local businesses,
national businesses, and our trainees gothrough the program in twenty weeks. Morgan,
(01:34):
our placement director, will help themfind a position and they're often running.
So how did you find yourself beinga part of this of empower?
Empower kind of found me. I'vebeen working in higher ed most of my
life and financial aid. Something thatwas always frustrating to me was the amount
of money it costs to college andthe sacrifices that families make to do this.
(01:57):
I know what a difference knowing somethingelse going to college made for me,
but I recognize it's not for everyone, and not for everyone at this
particular moment in time. So someonereached out and said, hey, this
organization is moving into Dayton. TheCity of Dayton gave them a grant.
They also received a grant from theMichael and Susan Dell Foundation, and that's
(02:20):
what's kind of funding our start off, and the more I learned about in
Power, I was like, thisis amazing. This is an opportunity for
people who want a second chance todo something productive and exciting and often changing
and really just take care of themselvesand their families. Yeah, that's great.
That's awesome to do. Plus it'sfree, which is just a mind
(02:43):
boggling but that's awesome. Yeah.When I say free, not only is
the program itself free, but weprovide computers, we'll provide hotspots. The
program is hybrid, so you cando it from home. Most of it
one day a week is in person. And we're right in downtown Dayton and
the beautiful arcade right. Yes,we're neighbors. Oh, I didn't know
(03:06):
that. That's great. So howlong have you guys been around? Empower
Itself started about twenty five years ago? Oh. In Power Ohio started fall
of last year. Oka in Octoberhere our first cohort started. So they're
about halfway through. Okay, we'vealready secured positions for most of the students
(03:27):
in our program now, so whenthey finish at the end of March,
they'll be heading off to become legittaxpayers. Nice so do you get you
guys help with like with job placement. Yeah, we more than help with
job placement. We prepare them forthe interview, We get them dressed for
their interviews, We have mock interviews, We take tours of companies that are
(03:49):
in the spaces that they're going tobe and we do as much as we
possibly can to make sure that they'recomfortable in this new space. Holy cow,
I mean, that's that's amazing.Not only you're teaching them the skills,
you're giving them the skills to actually, you know, go out and
apply for a job. Correct.And it's a total package. It's a
total package. And if something happenswhere you know, in a year,
(04:14):
the job market being what it is, you know, maybe it doesn't work
out, maybe you get laid off, call us back. If you're an
empower alumni, you're an alumni forlife, for life. Yeah, so
we have an alumni Services office thatwill assist you with finding a job if
for some reason you don't want tostay in the Miami Valley. Yeah.
You know, we have offices allover the country and connections all over the
(04:35):
country. We will help you whereveryou're going or wherever you want to go.
That's amazing. So give me anidea of like what you said.
You said veterans first of all,so it doesn't matter if you're a veteran
of whatever, you're eligible to dothis, Yes, a veteran of any
of the services, eighteen to datewhenever, ok, or if you're about
(04:58):
to leave the military. You don'tactually right plan your spouses because we recognize
that a lot of times spouses haveto give up their job because they're you
know, bouncing around military families andtheir husbands. And then our biggest focus
though, is the eighteen to twentysix year olds. Okay, we recognize
that this group thirty years ago wasgoing to college. Yeah. Yeah,
(05:20):
Now it's a lot harder to dothat. I agree, it's a lot
harder. It's a lot very expensive, It takes a long time, and
I think after the pandemic, peoplehave kind of gotten maybe a little jaded
about the importance of for your education. Yeah, and I wholeheartily agree with
you. I think sometimes, youknow, we're asking teenagers to decide on
(05:41):
what they want to do for therest of their lives, and they're you
know, and it costs a tonof money to go to college these days,
and to have somebody come out ofhigh school and not quite sure you
know where they want to go,but then they you know, well,
I'm probably going to need some technology. They can reach out to you guys,
exactly, exactly, and even ifwe're not you or forever stop.
I have been telling people, thinkabout us. If you can do what
(06:04):
we do, you can do itin any industry because every industry has technology.
And then you can work for acompany that Most companies offer tuition assistance
so you can get trained in somethingelse and have someone else help you pay
for it. You know this ispart this could be part of a larger
plant. So can you give usan idea of what the curriculum is about.
Sure, they do Comta Cometa Aplus, and then Google Project Management
(06:30):
and a Google Support It certrefcates,so they'll earn all four of those at
a minimum. Some of our traineeshave actually decided that they love it and
have picked up extras, and againwe take care of that so that as
far as the the ability, youdon't have to be a rocket scientist pretty
(06:51):
much pretty much if you can readand write and no really basic math and
have a desire. We can wecan help you the rest of the way.
Okay, So is there a specificfield that you think that these students
will be going into or is itjust a wide range that you're getting ready,
(07:12):
getting them ready for anything. Iwould say entry level. So a
lot of it is help desk,data analysts, it field support. Those
are kind of the most common kindof thing. So the guy who helps
you when you start a new job, get your computer set up, get
your emails set up. When yourcomputer doesn't work, Uh, you know
you need to pull data. That'skind of where where they are. Yeah,
(07:35):
all right, So how how doessomebody become involved? And if they
if they're hearing this right now andthey're like, you know, this sounds
like something i'd be interested, andI'm a veteran or I'm you know,
trying to make up my mind justgoing to get prepared for the for the
work ahead of me. How dothey how do they get involved? The
easiest way is to go to ourwebsite, which is uh the letter in
and the word power dot org.Okay, there's an apply now button on
(07:59):
there. You can also read moreabout the program, find out some of
our national sponsors, which are likeCity, which, Google, Amazon,
you know, all of the techplayers that you can think of all support
this. Just fill out an application, which I will admit is a little
long, aren't they all. Itry to just warm people up front and
(08:20):
have a few minutes after you apply, our admissions department will reach out to
you really ask you questions to gaugeyour true interest in the program and your
ability to finish. We also havea social support manager that's part of our
program. So if you have challengeshousing and security, food and security,
daycare, we'd like to know allthat upfront so that we can help you
(08:43):
put a plan together that will allowyou to finish. That's amazing. We
try to cover it all. It'sgreat, prog well rounded program. Do
you guys have Is there a limitto who to the amount of students that
will be a part of it?Or I know you said a lot of
it's done from home. We arecorehort size right now is about twenty five
(09:05):
students at a time. In thefall, will double that to fifty.
Wow. But our next class startsFebruary the twenty sixth, so you can
apply now for that. You know, I would love to say that we'll
run through twenty five real quickly andhave squeeze a few more in or create
a waiting list for August. Butyeah, we were not just a dating
(09:26):
thing where the Miami Valley region,but plans are to expand to other cities
in Ohio. So we're we're excitedto be here. There's a lot of
opportunity. Yeah, all right,So you guys are a nonprofit, so
I mean, how we get youguys some money? I mean, how
can we help? How much yougot in your pocket? That's a start.
But again, they can reach outthrough the website. There's a website
(09:50):
you can give. You can contactus locally. There's lots of ways that
if you are connected with the businessorganization and you want a volunteer here.
Yeah, like I said, wego on field trips, so we would
love to go to offices, greatspeakers that come in. There's lots of
ways you can financially support, andwe're open to talk to anyone about what
(10:13):
the best way is to do thatfor you so that you get the biggest
gain for your investment. Any andalways. Yeah, and you guys are
pretty new, so I'm guessing youcould use some help. And you said,
people can volunteer, So if thereisn't you know, if you can't
financially right now is not the time, but you could volunteer. Exactly,
(10:33):
Okay, great, exactly what else? Oh? In fundraisers? Do you
guys have fundraisers at all throughout theyear? Are you working on one coming
up? We don't have anything onthe pipeline, but that's one of the
mandates from nationals for each location tohave a signature fundraiser well and tomorrow.
So I'm gonna tell you we havea lovely location here at the Arcade.
It's so pretty here. So I'mtrying to think of something a date ish.
(10:56):
I'm thinking maybe the Daton funk scene. Maybe we do a tech in
funk kind of thing. I don'tknow. So, yes, more to
come on that with okay moshing aroundideas, but yeah, so if you
if folks are looking for information orjust want to know more about in Power,
where do we find that? Uh? The website is really the best
site, and that's the letter inpowerdot org. They can also call nine
(11:22):
three seven, eight four eight fifteentwenty and leave a message. We'll get
right back to you. If someonedoesn't answer right away. Yeah, there's
you know, we're we're here.Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh LinkedIn
yeah, sure, LinkedIn? Andcan can people come like take a tour
or can we stop buy and sayhey or whatnot? Where are you are
(11:43):
you guys on the third floor?No, we're on the second one.
We're on this floor. We're literallylike four four off phones away. Okay,
I don't have to walk the otherdirection, I guess real. Yeah,
I'm only going one way, yeah, right, like four doors down.
Yeah. So we're in this beautifulbuilding. We're not actually in our
offices very often because we are outout and about with a new organization,
(12:07):
trying to talk to as many peopleas we can, you know, whether
it's fundraising or trying to make connectionsin the community. So we're out a
lot. But yes, you cancome tour. Just give us a call,
let us know when you want tocome. We'll be happy to set
that up. Check it out.Because this is a beautiful place. I
must admit and you guys. Allright, so we said the next enrollment
(12:28):
is coming up. When the enrollmentis starting now. The next class will
start on the twenty sixth of February. Okay, so if you have interest,
apply now. Probably will stop acceptingapplications around the twentieth of February,
so a few weeks yet, butthe process takes a little bit, so
don't wait too long. Yeah,this is a great thing. I mean,
(12:50):
is the uh, this is theopportunity for those who you know,
maybe are looking forward to going intotheir next you know, part of their
of their careers and they need toknow more about technology. You guys are
doing it and offering it for free. Offering it for free. Yep.
Yeah, it's a great opportunity Ithink for a lot of people who don't
know what their next is. Sure, take some time with us. Yeah,
(13:13):
I like to say everyone who spendsyou know, even a couple of
weeks in the program, we haveseen the very visible change in our trainees
from day one to what are weweek twelve now, so they're more than
halfway through and they're completely different people, right, I mean, it's only
twenty weeks. It's only twenty weeks, four months, four months, four
(13:33):
months, And to change your life. If you're not making forty five thousand
plus right now and you're not happywith what you're doing, give us a
call. Let's talk about it.Marst Is outstanding. I wish you guys
all the luck and I hope youguys like you know, sell out and
you know every classroom is full fromnow on, let's double them up.
Check it out once again. Itis n the letter npower dot org for
(13:58):
you to check out all the detailsand get yourself set up for the upcoming
latest class February twenty sixth. That'sit all right, Well, thanks for
joining us. Say appreciate you havingin. Thank you very much for having
me. This was a lot offun. I appreciate you
Good morning. This is Miami ValleyView. I am your host, Dave
Alexander, and this is a publicaffairs program brought to you by iHeartMedia,
Dayton and today we're talking in Power. It's with Damaris Crawford White, the
executive director of Empower. And ifyou're like me, I was like,
I don't know, not exactly surewhat empower is. So we are here
(00:21):
this morning to find out what it'sall about in Demorris. How are you?
I'm great, thank you, goodmorning. The house things today doing
well, I'm doing fabulous. Yeah. Yeah, So give us an idea.
First of all, what in Poweris now. It's not only an
Ohio thing, it's it's a it'sa national National Right NOP. It's a
national nonprofit. And essentially what wedo is train military veterans and their spouses
(00:45):
and also young adults eighteen to twentysix in technology and then assist them with
getting a job. Okay, So, and I understand it's pretty important because
you can you I mean yeah,in a job these days, you almost
have to note some sort of technology. You really have to have some sort
of skills if you want to earnmore than twelve dollars an hour. Our
(01:07):
positions usually pay on average about fortyeight thousand, so that's a pretty good
start. Pretty good start. It'sa twenty week program. Okay, it's
completely free. I don't know ifI mentioned that before. I did not,
Holy Cow completely free. We fundraise, make partnerships with local businesses,
national businesses, and our trainees gothrough the program in twenty weeks. Morgan,
(01:34):
our placement director, will help themfind a position and they're often running.
So how did you find yourself beinga part of this of empower?
Empower kind of found me. I'vebeen working in higher ed most of my
life and financial aid. Something thatwas always frustrating to me was the amount
of money it costs to college andthe sacrifices that families make to do this.
(01:57):
I know what a difference knowing somethingelse going to college made for me,
but I recognize it's not for everyone, and not for everyone at this
particular moment in time. So someonereached out and said, hey, this
organization is moving into Dayton. TheCity of Dayton gave them a grant.
They also received a grant from theMichael and Susan Dell Foundation, and that's
(02:20):
what's kind of funding our start off, and the more I learned about in
Power, I was like, thisis amazing. This is an opportunity for
people who want a second chance todo something productive and exciting and often changing
and really just take care of themselvesand their families. Yeah, that's great.
That's awesome to do. Plus it'sfree, which is just a mind
(02:43):
boggling but that's awesome. Yeah.When I say free, not only is
the program itself free, but weprovide computers, we'll provide hotspots. The
program is hybrid, so you cando it from home. Most of it
one day a week is in person. And we're right in downtown Dayton and
the beautiful arcade right. Yes,we're neighbors. Oh, I didn't know
(03:06):
that. That's great. So howlong have you guys been around? Empower
Itself started about twenty five years ago? Oh. In Power Ohio started fall
of last year. Oka in Octoberhere our first cohort started. So they're
about halfway through. Okay, we'vealready secured positions for most of the students
(03:27):
in our program now, so whenthey finish at the end of March,
they'll be heading off to become legittaxpayers. Nice so do you get you
guys help with like with job placement. Yeah, we more than help with
job placement. We prepare them forthe interview, We get them dressed for
their interviews, We have mock interviews, We take tours of companies that are
(03:49):
in the spaces that they're going tobe and we do as much as we
possibly can to make sure that they'recomfortable in this new space. Holy cow,
I mean, that's that's amazing.Not only you're teaching them the skills,
you're giving them the skills to actually, you know, go out and
apply for a job. Correct.And it's a total package. It's a
total package. And if something happenswhere you know, in a year,
(04:14):
the job market being what it is, you know, maybe it doesn't work
out, maybe you get laid off, call us back. If you're an
empower alumni, you're an alumni forlife, for life. Yeah, so
we have an alumni Services office thatwill assist you with finding a job if
for some reason you don't want tostay in the Miami Valley. Yeah.
You know, we have offices allover the country and connections all over the
(04:35):
country. We will help you whereveryou're going or wherever you want to go.
That's amazing. So give me anidea of like what you said.
You said veterans first of all,so it doesn't matter if you're a veteran
of whatever, you're eligible to dothis, Yes, a veteran of any
of the services, eighteen to datewhenever, ok, or if you're about
(04:58):
to leave the military. You don'tactually right plan your spouses because we recognize
that a lot of times spouses haveto give up their job because they're you
know, bouncing around military families andtheir husbands. And then our biggest focus
though, is the eighteen to twentysix year olds. Okay, we recognize
that this group thirty years ago wasgoing to college. Yeah. Yeah,
(05:20):
Now it's a lot harder to dothat. I agree, it's a lot
harder. It's a lot very expensive, It takes a long time, and
I think after the pandemic, peoplehave kind of gotten maybe a little jaded
about the importance of for your education. Yeah, and I wholeheartily agree with
you. I think sometimes, youknow, we're asking teenagers to decide on
(05:41):
what they want to do for therest of their lives, and they're you
know, and it costs a tonof money to go to college these days,
and to have somebody come out ofhigh school and not quite sure you
know where they want to go,but then they you know, well,
I'm probably going to need some technology. They can reach out to you guys,
exactly, exactly, and even ifwe're not you or forever stop.
I have been telling people, thinkabout us. If you can do what
(06:04):
we do, you can do itin any industry because every industry has technology.
And then you can work for acompany that Most companies offer tuition assistance
so you can get trained in somethingelse and have someone else help you pay
for it. You know this ispart this could be part of a larger
plant. So can you give usan idea of what the curriculum is about.
Sure, they do Comta Cometa Aplus, and then Google Project Management
(06:30):
and a Google Support It certrefcates,so they'll earn all four of those at
a minimum. Some of our traineeshave actually decided that they love it and
have picked up extras, and againwe take care of that so that as
far as the the ability, youdon't have to be a rocket scientist pretty
(06:51):
much pretty much if you can readand write and no really basic math and
have a desire. We can wecan help you the rest of the way.
Okay, So is there a specificfield that you think that these students
will be going into or is itjust a wide range that you're getting ready,
(07:12):
getting them ready for anything. Iwould say entry level. So a
lot of it is help desk,data analysts, it field support. Those
are kind of the most common kindof thing. So the guy who helps
you when you start a new job, get your computer set up, get
your emails set up. When yourcomputer doesn't work, Uh, you know
you need to pull data. That'skind of where where they are. Yeah,
(07:35):
all right, So how how doessomebody become involved? And if they
if they're hearing this right now andthey're like, you know, this sounds
like something i'd be interested, andI'm a veteran or I'm you know,
trying to make up my mind justgoing to get prepared for the for the
work ahead of me. How dothey how do they get involved? The
easiest way is to go to ourwebsite, which is uh the letter in
and the word power dot org.Okay, there's an apply now button on
(07:59):
there. You can also read moreabout the program, find out some of
our national sponsors, which are likeCity, which, Google, Amazon,
you know, all of the techplayers that you can think of all support
this. Just fill out an application, which I will admit is a little
long, aren't they all. Itry to just warm people up front and
(08:20):
have a few minutes after you apply, our admissions department will reach out to
you really ask you questions to gaugeyour true interest in the program and your
ability to finish. We also havea social support manager that's part of our
program. So if you have challengeshousing and security, food and security,
daycare, we'd like to know allthat upfront so that we can help you
(08:43):
put a plan together that will allowyou to finish. That's amazing. We
try to cover it all. It'sgreat, prog well rounded program. Do
you guys have Is there a limitto who to the amount of students that
will be a part of it?Or I know you said a lot of
it's done from home. We arecorehort size right now is about twenty five
(09:05):
students at a time. In thefall, will double that to fifty.
Wow. But our next class startsFebruary the twenty sixth, so you can
apply now for that. You know, I would love to say that we'll
run through twenty five real quickly andhave squeeze a few more in or create
a waiting list for August. Butyeah, we were not just a dating
(09:26):
thing where the Miami Valley region,but plans are to expand to other cities
in Ohio. So we're we're excitedto be here. There's a lot of
opportunity. Yeah, all right,So you guys are a nonprofit, so
I mean, how we get youguys some money? I mean, how
can we help? How much yougot in your pocket? That's a start.
But again, they can reach outthrough the website. There's a website
(09:50):
you can give. You can contactus locally. There's lots of ways that
if you are connected with the businessorganization and you want a volunteer here.
Yeah, like I said, wego on field trips, so we would
love to go to offices, greatspeakers that come in. There's lots of
ways you can financially support, andwe're open to talk to anyone about what
(10:13):
the best way is to do thatfor you so that you get the biggest
gain for your investment. Any andalways. Yeah, and you guys are
pretty new, so I'm guessing youcould use some help. And you said,
people can volunteer, So if thereisn't you know, if you can't
financially right now is not the time, but you could volunteer. Exactly,
(10:33):
Okay, great, exactly what else? Oh? In fundraisers? Do you
guys have fundraisers at all throughout theyear? Are you working on one coming
up? We don't have anything onthe pipeline, but that's one of the
mandates from nationals for each location tohave a signature fundraiser well and tomorrow.
So I'm gonna tell you we havea lovely location here at the Arcade.
It's so pretty here. So I'mtrying to think of something a date ish.
(10:56):
I'm thinking maybe the Daton funk scene. Maybe we do a tech in
funk kind of thing. I don'tknow. So, yes, more to
come on that with okay moshing aroundideas, but yeah, so if you
if folks are looking for information orjust want to know more about in Power,
where do we find that? Uh? The website is really the best
site, and that's the letter inpowerdot org. They can also call nine
(11:22):
three seven, eight four eight fifteentwenty and leave a message. We'll get
right back to you. If someonedoesn't answer right away. Yeah, there's
you know, we're we're here.Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh LinkedIn
yeah, sure, LinkedIn? Andcan can people come like take a tour
or can we stop buy and sayhey or whatnot? Where are you are
(11:43):
you guys on the third floor?No, we're on the second one.
We're on this floor. We're literallylike four four off phones away. Okay,
I don't have to walk the otherdirection, I guess real. Yeah,
I'm only going one way, yeah, right, like four doors down.
Yeah. So we're in this beautifulbuilding. We're not actually in our
offices very often because we are outout and about with a new organization,
(12:07):
trying to talk to as many peopleas we can, you know, whether
it's fundraising or trying to make connectionsin the community. So we're out a
lot. But yes, you cancome tour. Just give us a call,
let us know when you want tocome. We'll be happy to set
that up. Check it out.Because this is a beautiful place. I
must admit and you guys. Allright, so we said the next enrollment
(12:28):
is coming up. When the enrollmentis starting now. The next class will
start on the twenty sixth of February. Okay, so if you have interest,
apply now. Probably will stop acceptingapplications around the twentieth of February,
so a few weeks yet, butthe process takes a little bit, so
don't wait too long. Yeah,this is a great thing. I mean,
(12:50):
is the uh, this is theopportunity for those who you know,
maybe are looking forward to going intotheir next you know, part of their
of their careers and they need toknow more about technology. You guys are
doing it and offering it for free. Offering it for free. Yep.
Yeah, it's a great opportunity Ithink for a lot of people who don't
know what their next is. Sure, take some time with us. Yeah,
(13:13):
I like to say everyone who spendsyou know, even a couple of
weeks in the program, we haveseen the very visible change in our trainees
from day one to what are weweek twelve now, so they're more than
halfway through and they're completely different people, right, I mean, it's only
twenty weeks. It's only twenty weeks, four months, four months, four
(13:33):
months, And to change your life. If you're not making forty five thousand
plus right now and you're not happywith what you're doing, give us a
call. Let's talk about it.Marst Is outstanding. I wish you guys
all the luck and I hope youguys like you know, sell out and
you know every classroom is full fromnow on, let's double them up.
Check it out once again. Itis n the letter npower dot org for
(13:58):
you to check out all the detailsand get yourself set up for the upcoming
latest class February twenty sixth. That'sit all right, Well, thanks for
joining us. Say appreciate you havingin. Thank you very much for having
me. This was a lot offun. I appreciate you
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