Ja'Meia Jackson thought she'd never get a good job.
After graduating from high school in 2009, she drifted from one low-paying job to the next, working a cash register at a Macy's, leading football fans to their seats at FedEx Field, collecting tickets at Six Flags America.
She took classes at Prince George's Community College but struggled with assignments while working long hours, and dropped out.
"I felt like I wasn't going to go anywhere," said Jackson, 26, who lives with her parents in Lanham. "Like I was going to be doing this for the rest of my life."
She doesn't feel that way anymore. Now she earns $20 an hour fielding customer service calls full time at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Columbia.
Jackson credits her turnaround to Year Up Baltimore, the local branch of a national workforce development program that prepares disadvantaged urban youths and young adults for the middle-skill, entry-level jobs that employers say are increasingly difficult to fill.
The post Year Up gives Baltimore youths a different path to jobs appeared first on Baltimore Tech.
from http://baltimoretech.org/news/year-up-gives-baltimore-youths-a-different-path-to-jobs/
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