Monies to help purchase Taser packages, surveillance equipment, training and pay OT
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Amery Arcement
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Tamarlon Carter, special project manager for the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC), wants to see Louisiana’s community work together to form a building block for a better future – and he said it starts with organizations like LWC, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services (LRS) and Community Action Agencies (CAA) putting the pieces together.
“Most of us either have taken part in Community Action or worked with Community Action,” Carter said at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center last week. “Without you, it would be a struggle to put the pieces together, so the LWC understands that the more people we can bring into the room to talk about what each individual is responsible for, we will all have a better appreciation for our workers.”
According to the Louisiana Association of Community Action Partnership (LACAP) website, it strives to elevate the social and economic standards of Louisiana’s economically disadvantaged residents through 42 CAAs statewide.
Every year, LACAP offers financial assistance to 650,000 Louisiana residents.
“LACAP’s three major functions are: To provide an organization through which all CAAs can work together to further the goals and objectives of said organization, to bring about more effective cooperation between CAAs and other agencies that have similar objectives, and to participate in and strengthen the professional organizations of the CAAs,” the website reads.
Integration with LWC, according to LRS Communications Director Tiffany Dickerson, is the key to doing more with less to help residents with disabilities become self-sufficient.
“I’m supposed to talk about the mission [of LRS], but it’s really simple,” she said. “We believe, in light of the economic challenges, in light of the oil spill and the devastation from Katrina, there are solutions. And we believe that we are a solution that works.”
And in order to support the working solution, members and directors from CAAs in Assumption, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes came together last week with LRS and LWC to honor specific individuals that have gone above and beyond to help local residents with financial disabilities.
Assumption CAA, which serves approximately 23,000 residents, recognized its core staff of the Housing and Community Development Office.
“I had the pleasure of coming into this department six months ago. I was blessed to be welcomed by such an amazing family of women,” Assumption CAA Director Brucie Dejan said, and recognized Markel Sumpter, Kizzy Parker and Evangeline Davis for their positive attitudes and their ability to be team players.
Parker was glad to help.
“These people are just looking for someone to help them, and that someone is us,” she said. “We have to keep in mind that we’re that someone to help them and that it’s not the end of the road.”
Terrebonne Parish Human Development Administrator Melanie VanBuren nominated the Terrebonne Parish Community Services Block Grant Staff for the hero award.
“It is not uncommon for people who are hired to do a job and perform it to the best of their ability, but what about those individuals who just go above and beyond the call of duty?” she asked, and acknowledged Chantelle Bunch, Lakeisha Ray and Lynn Nguyen for their long hours of hard work and dedication.
“It’s all about that one person’s life we truly change that makes it all worth all the hours,” Bunch said after accepting the award.
Aaron Triggs, a deacon at Third Zion Baptist Church and member of the Lafourche Community Action Board, was nominated as a hero by the Lafourche Parish CAA due to his dedication in helping people in need.
“I’m just stunned, I didn’t expect this,” Triggs said at the ceremony. “But whatever I can do for humanity.”
Georgette Wallace, a Disability Program Navigator (DPN) for LWC was also at the award ceremony to promote the DPN Initiative and the upcoming National Disability Awareness Month Job Fair at the Holiday Inn on Martin Luther King Boulevard on Oct. 14.
“The U.S. Department of Labor established a Disability Program Navigator Initiative program in order to make certain that when individuals with disabilities went into our career solution centers, they had staff that were able to assist them with any disability,” she said.
According to Wallace, the program began in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. There are 425 navigators throughout 44 states including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and Wallace hopes to see the program flourish in the future.
“We do what we do because we love our community,” VanBuren said, and explained the Department of Housing and Human Services in Terrebonne assists residents with rental and mortgage payment.
“We have assisted 175 families, equaling $168,000 just this year,” she said, and hopes more families will come and get the help if needed.
Louisiana Workforce Commission: Community Action representatives including Wallace Sibley, Brucie Dejan, Melanie Vanburen, Jennifer Babin, Tiffany Dickerson and Michelle Turner hold their pieces of the community puzzle at the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s hero awards last week. JENNA FARMER
