Paths to Success

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Jaki Bradley was once a teenager heading down the wrong path. Deborah Grinder was young and homeless. Today Bradley has achieved a high-ranking position as an LTC in the Army and a career with Kaiser Permanente as a MSN/CRNP (Masters of Science in Nursing/Certified Registered Nurse Practioner), and Lead of the Community Ambassador Program. Grinder is now a Registered Nurse, PICC Line Nurse and Emergency Room Nurse at Kaiser Permanente. They’re also members of UFCW Local 400 and recently the two took time out of their hectic schedules to meet with students at the Covenant House job readiness training program and discuss the variety of career opportunities open to them in the health care industry and in the military.  “I was able to achieve this because someone believed in me – my high school nurse,” Bradley, Local 400 Shop Steward, Vice President and Board Member, told the students.  “I’m here today because I believe in you.” The life experiences of Bradley and Grinder, a Contract Specialist for Local 400, proved an inspiration to the students. The Metro Washington Council’s Community Services Agency supports the Covenant House program, which works with at-risk youth in the Washington DC area to provide job readiness skills and support for successfully obtaining and keeping jobs. - photo: Bradley (at right) and Grinder (center) offer words of encouragement to a student at the Covenant House; report/photo by Yvette Delacruz