UNSHAKEABLE's Empower to Employ Program

Women recovering from homelessness, substance addiction, domestic violence, and human trafficking face unique barriers to employment.  These women need a long-term plan to achieve financial independence so they can avoid returning to a lifestyle or a harmful relationship they worked so hard to escape.

UNSHAKEABLE’s gender specific Empower to Employ program has three elements.

The I AM Series, a 12-class empowerment lecture series, focusing on business acculturation, life skills and rebuilding self-worth. 

Individual Career Development that assesses passions and skills and identifies specific barriers to employment and helps clients to remove those barriers. 

The UNSHAKEABLE Business Alliance engages with local employers to change the conversation to promote skills, life experience and the tenacity to overcome trauma as a measure of potential success.

If more women recovering from trauma received the intensive workforce integration support UNSHAKEABLE provides, more vulnerable women would find a career that delivers a sustainable living wage.

The economic vulnerability of the women we serve increases their likelihood to fall back into the life they worked so hard to escape.  Too often the case management our clients receive have a short-sighted goal of placement in any job before exiting a woman from a program or facility.  They need long-term career pathing.

To understand the scale of the populations we support in Clark County, NV below are statistics on three of the populations we serve. 

According to SAMHSA’s 2017 Treatment Episode Data Set, in Nevada, women account for 31.7 percent of all admissions, regardless of primary substance. Additionally, women account for 45.5 percent of non-heroin opioid-related admissions.

In 2017, in Nevada, there were 47,368 reported cases of domestic violence, 92% were female victims.  Furthermore, 37,637 of these reported cases in Nevada, regardless of gender, were in Clark County (making up approximately 80% of all cases).

In 2018, Nevada was ranked among the top eight states for the number of human trafficking cases reported, and Las Vegas is identified as a particular hotspot for trafficking activity. In 2018, 76 percent of the calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline from the Nevada were made by women. 

The Empower to Employ program has three elements.

The I AM Series, a 12-class empowerment lecture series, focusing on business acculturation, life skills for independent living and rebuilding self-worth; is delivered as the women complete their rehabilitation and start their journey back to the workforce. 

Individual career development utilizes the WorkNet model and assesses passions and skills and identifies specific barriers to employment and creates a plan to address those barriers.  Career coaches work through the emotional barriers that are prevalent with women recovering from trauma and allow the client to dream about what a career could look like for herself.  We provide career chats and job shadowing experiences with people working in their desired fields so they can explore a career before they seek an entry-level career job in that field or commit to any required certifications or education.

We utilize our Business Alliance to engage with local employers on behalf of our clients and change the conversation to promote skills, life experience and the tenacity to overcome trauma as a measure of potential success versus simply education.  We create a pathway to get UNSHAKEABLE clients’ applications a second look and with most partners a guaranteed interview.

Women recovering from homelessness, substance addiction, domestic violence, and human trafficking are UNSHAKEABLE’s target population.  They are working to change their lives through long-term rehabilitation programs or by seeking support in a shelter.  Our partners handle housing, addiction recovery and emotional and mental care, but that isn’t enough.  These women need a long-term plan to achieve financial independence so they can avoid returning to a lifestyle they worked so hard to escape or a harmful relationship.

Our career coaches uncover the unique barriers to employment each woman faces and begin addressing them.  Sadly, emotional scars of her trauma often prevent her from even voicing her desires; but our career coaches are trained to push through and ask specific questions to uncover the passion that was buried by years of being told she wasn’t good enough or as a single mom, told she was selfish to pursue something that may bring her happiness in her work. 

Too often, women take a job based on someone else’s recommendation and not based on their own interests and skills.  An ill-fitting job may solve a short-term money problem but will result in miserable work experiences delivering poor performance and job hopping or repeated terminations.  

The women we serve can’t imagine having more than a job.  Our program opens their minds to the truth that they can have more.  Once we help them identify their passions and skills, we brainstorm different applications of those attributes in various careers prioritizing fields that don’t require a college degree.

We give women the opportunity to explore multiple careers and discover what working in that field is really like.  Our Business Alliance partners host career chats and invite clients into their business to spend time with their team members to share their personal career journeys.

Full-time contractor - 1

Part-time contractor - 2

Volunteer Faculty - 15

Our goal is helping women achieve economic equity by guiding them to a sustainable career by tearing down barriers.  Seventy-two percent of our clients are non-white and 94% earn at or below the poverty level when they begin working with UNSHAKEABLE. 

We don’t discriminate based on race, religion, criminal background, sexual orientation, education, or income when taking on clients.  We choose to be gender specific and designed our program to address the unique needs and barriers to employment of women and female identified.

When building the organization our primary criteria and one that we are not flexible on is that everyone must have a passion for the work that we are doing and a heart for the women we serve.  Many volunteers and leaders have their own stories of trauma or addiction that draws them to the work that we do because they see themselves in the women we serve.

UNSHAKEABLE focuses on the workforce integration phase of rehabilitation, with the end goal not simply employment, but identification of a career and support to get our clients started on that career path.  This critical phase is often treated as a "check the box" part of case management with a short-sighted goal of placement in "any" job before exiting a woman from a program or facility. 

We didn’t look at the rehabilitation programs facilitated by caring nonprofits as competitors; instead we saw the opportunity to enhance the workforce integration phase of their work with our unique approach and came alongside those organizations and offered our services at no cost solely to increase the success rate for their clients.  What is unique about our program:

The Empower to Employ program is gender specific and addresses the unique emotional barriers women healing from trauma face when trying to return to the workforce. 

UNSHAKEABLE provides two years of continuous support so we can walk alongside our clients as they navigate their return to independent living and the challenges of maintaining sobriety, regaining custodial rights of children, securing affordable housing all while retaining full-time employment with the challenges the work environment creates.

The Business Alliance provides a second review of our clients’ applications when applying for positions in their companies.  Career Coaches advocate on behalf of our clients with prospective employers, so they see our client for more than what is on the written application but for their skills and life experience.

The Empower to Employ program does not require a significant amount of technology.  The I AM Series is held in person in a classroom setting but with COVID we moved to a virtual platform via Zoom to host the classes.  We are also using Zoom to hold individual career development sessions when in-person sessions with social distancing aren’t possible.

We completed our first Virtual I AM Series on October 22nd and maintained attendance from our participants throughout the 12 classes.  The only issues we encountered were internet connectivity issues by one of our clients who was participating from inside the domestic violence shelter where she is currently living.  While we are excited to return to our in-person format, we recognize that a virtual format will work and doesn’t require a large technology investment.

There are high rates of relapse and returning to unhealthy relationships among trauma survivors and the driver is financial need.  Women will do anything to care for their children even if that requires returning to a dangerous relationship or lifestyle.  Women are not being set up for long-term financial success when they complete their rehabilitation programs because the goal is job placement and not long-term career development into sustainable employment providing a living wage.

Desired Impact:  Sustainable financial independence for women recovering from trauma

Inputs: I AM Series faculty, facilitator and curriculum, career development coaches, WorkNet Model for Career Development, business alliance.

Activities:  I AM Series, individual career development coaching sessions, Inspire Live events, Coffee for Courage, career chats, job shadowing experiences.

Outputs: 

Women speak about having hope for their future and feeling supported by UNSHAKEABLE. 

Women verbalize larger aspirations for themselves through a career.  

Women secure a survival job adjacent to their career path

Women secure an entry-level career job. 

Women receive certifications required for desired field.

Short-term Outcomes:  (After I AM Series and first six months of career development.) 

Clients feel supported as they embark on independent living and maintain their sobriety. 

They recognize what emotional barriers need to be addressed.    

Financial, educational, and legal barriers are also identified and a plan to address those barriers is in place.  

Clients learn about new career fields that may fit their skills and passions through Inspire Live events and early career development sessions. 

Mid-term Outcomes:  (After two years of career development work with UNSHAKEABLE.)

Women have the mindset that they deserve something better for themselves and their children.

Women are working in a survival job that is adjacent to their career path or have already moved into an entry-level career job. 

Women’s career paths have been identified after exploring different fields and taking advantage of career chats and job shadowing experiences.

Long-term Outcomes:  (Five-ten years after introduction to UNSHAKEABLE.)

Clients maintaining a healthy lifestyle while working in their career field receiving a living wage with their income on an upward trend and a high level of job satisfaction. 

In 2021 we plan further expansion in Clark County, NV adding more partners rehabilitating women from homelessness, substance addiction, domestic violence, and human trafficking.  We will also change our operating model to offer our services to women who aren’t connected to another nonprofit agency.  This will require relationships with Medicaid providers and state agencies who are providing public assistance to identify women who need the Empower to Employ program.

Within 12 to 24 months we plan to expand our programming to Boise, ID.   We have a vision for replicating the Empower to Employ program and the UNSHAKEABLE model in cities across the US.  We are building the program infrastructure to make replication simple and cost effective. 

UNSHAKEABLE is in the exploration phase of launching a social enterprise - a business created to address a community challenge, with a market-based approach for sustainable impact.  The vision is to create one or more businesses to provide a place for our clients to work while they complete their rehabilitation programs and embark on independent living.  A place where the women can garner work experience to enhance their employment history or they can stay and make a career operating all aspects of the businesses.  Many of our clients dream of owning their own business and have an entrepreneurial spirit that wasn’t extinguished by their trauma; working in the UNSHAKEABLE businesses will provide an exhaustive view of business operations.

The social enterprise model once built in Nevada will be replicated in other cities UNSHAKEABLE serves.

Expansion in Southern NV requires additional resources to facilitate more I AM Series and to provide individual career development to an expanded client base.  Many corporate and family foundation grantors and government grants do not to allow for payroll funding even when the staff is exclusively working on programming and client support.  UNSHAKEABLE provides only professional services not tangible goods to our clients which creates a financial barrier when seeking grants. 

Another barrier to expansion is the need to expand our volunteer faculty.  To ensure we don’t overburden our volunteers with the additional I AM Series we need to recruit a second roster of lecturers for the 12 classes.  This requires finding people who can provide the time to teach when it’s convenient for our clients’ schedules, have a deep knowledge of their topic but most importantly a desire to help heal broken women. 

Expansion into another geography requires an infrastructure and a group of people who will support the organization in the market and can leverage their personal and professional relationships locally.   In addition to the administrative set up including business licensing, opening local bank accounts and a mailing address; relationships need to be established with nonprofits who are rehabilitating women healing from homelessness, substance addiction, domestic violence, and human trafficking.  These relationships will provide the clients for UNSHAKEABLE – IDAHO.   The business alliance is something that differentiates UNSHAKEABLE from other workforce development programs and this element will also need to be stood up at the launch of UNSHAKEABLE – IDAHO.

To combat limitations in grants to cover payroll expenses for our programming staff, we are actively pursuing unrestricted donations from corporations and family foundations.  Half or our annual corporate giving comes in unrestricted, we just need to expand that segment of donors.  We tasked our board as well as someone with strong corporate connections in the Clark County, NV to prioritize soliciting unrestricted corporate donations.

To create a second roster of faculty for expansion of the I AM Series, we asked our current faculty to recommend at least two people who they believe could speak to their topic and provide back up support if scheduling becomes a problem.  We are still working on identifying about half of the second roster, and the leadership team has made this a priority.

We were intentional in choosing Boise, ID as our first expansion market because this region has a group of UNSHAKEABLE supporters living in the area.  We identified a candidate to oversee the startup and launch operations for UNSHAKEABLE Idaho and just need the financial support to get her set up and working on the administrative and operational set up in the new location.  The leadership team in Nevada will be available to assist the new team in Idaho.  The I AM Series curriculum and career development SOPs are already developed and ready for implementation which will accelerate launching Empower to Employ programming once the administrative and operational set up is complete.

The career development portion of the Empower to Employ program just reached the two-year mark so long-term outcomes data is something we want to collect but just don’t have longevity in the program to collect it yet.  Those data points would include income, job title and position in chosen career field tracking over the next 5-10 years as well as understanding how many women are maintaining a healthy lifestyle away from the trauma they once experienced. Understanding the long-term outcomes of the business alliance and how UNSHAKEABLE clients build a career with a partner’s company would also provide great testimonies as we solicit new business alliance members in the Clark County, NV and in new regions where we plan to launch UNSHAKEABLE.  Creating the link with local businesses is a critical part of the Empower to Employ program and requires some measurable data around it.  

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Debbie Isaacs is the founder of UNSHAKEABLE and oversees the I AM Series portion of the Empower to Employ program.  Debbie has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from SUNY Oneonta and has been working alongside organizations rehabilitating women with substance use disorders for over 10 years.  She partnered with two licensed drug and alcohol counselors to build the I AM Series curriculum. 

The I AM Series is taught by a team of volunteer faculty who serve in executive roles or own their own businesses.  The faculty are well-versed in the topic they teach and bring to the class personal experiences that allow our clients to connect with them and many begin communicating with clients directly to give them more insight into their career field.  Among the 17 faculty we have 7 with advanced degrees – 1 MS Marriage & Family Therapy, 1 MS Clinical Professional Counseling & is a Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor, 3 MBAs, 1 MS Communication Studies, and 1 MS Human Resources Development.

Bonnie Gilmour is the Executive Director and oversees the career development portion of the Empower to Employ program.   She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Ursinus College and an MBA in marketing from St. Joseph’s University.  Bonnie is certified in the WorkNet model of Career Development and received Master Coach training from Ramsey Solutions to be certified as a financial coach.   Bonnie spent 25+ years as a marketing executive in the gaming industry and in her last role led a team 100+ employees.

We currently partner with local nonprofit organizations and private sector companies who are rehabilitating women recovering from trauma and providing the rescue, housing, and recovery services.  We provide their clients workforce integration services by delivering to them the Empower to Employ program. 

Current and Past partner organizations

WIN Court-Women in Need of Change (LV Muni. Court – Alternative Sentencing Ed Dept.)

YO Court – Youth Offender (LV Muni. Court – Alternative Sentencing Ed Dept.)

The Shade Tree (Homeless & Domestic Violence Shelter)

Foundation for Recovery (NV Recovery Community Organization)

Shannon West Homeless Youth Shelter

Refuge for Women LV (Human Trafficking Recovery Program)

Safe House (Domestic Violence Shelter)

Family Promise (Homeless Families with children)

Hoving Home (Alcohol & Drug Abuse Recovery Program)

Targeting for 2021

Dignity Health/EMPOWERED program (Substance Addicted Pregnant Women)

Anthem Medicaid

Salvation Army/Seeds of Hope

Rape Crisis Center/RISE program

LV Rescue Mission

UNSHAKEABLE impacts women in Southern NV by guiding them to financial independence through a career so they can be healthy contributors to the local economy and prevent generational poverty.  Women recovering from homelessness, substance addiction, domestic violence and human trafficking are the primary population we serve and without intervention may never pull themselves out of the cycle of low-wage survival jobs which often results in the need for government assistance to make ends meet.  Our quest is economic justice for women survivors of trauma.

The career development services UNSHAKEABLE provides with the I AM Series and individual coaching helps clients work through their barriers to employment and explore different careers to find the right fit and doesn’t necessarily require additional schooling but allows them to thrive in a career that leverages their passions, skills and experience.  Without our services, many women would sit in their fears and self-doubt and not allow themselves to envision, much less pursue, a career that brings them personal satisfaction and financial independence.

Our business alliance is a secondary population we serve by providing talent who have moved themselves out of their trauma and have shown the tenacity to rebuild their lives and pursue something bigger for themselves and their children.  We partner with companies who recognize the efforts our women are making to redefine themselves and move forward on a path of healthy and intentional choices.  Our business alliance partners also have the benefit of supporting the community in which they operate.

Short-term

• Expand unrestricted corporate and family foundation donations to deliver financial support for our administrative expenses.
• Expand government grant support to include state funding from the NV Dept. of Health and Human Services - substance addiction funding, the Division of Child and Family Services – victims of crime funding and the NV Dept. of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation – reentry funding to underwrite programming expenses.
• Expand restricted corporate donations by creating sponsorships for Empower to Employ program participation to directly support programming expenses and connect local businesses with our clients.
• Collaborate with partners to submit grant applications together to show a complete restoration program from rescue to financial independence for programming expenses.
• Expand the charging of fees for programming for government agencies (Probation & Parole) and private sector companies who can refer their female clients to our program for comprehensive workforce integration support.
• Mid-July 2020 we launched phase one of our social enterprise, UNSHAKEABLE Marketplace, an online store where we resell social enterprise products produced by other nonprofits to provide a steady stream of income to help with operating costs from product sales.

Long-term

• Launch the UNSHAKEABLE social enterprise and run a business that will employ our clients in need of immediate work and job training and create a sustainable revenue stream back into the nonprofit.  Targeted launch date is 2022.

We currently fund the Empower to Employ program through corporate and family foundation donations as well as corporate foundation grants.  In 2020 we received a multi-year grant from Google.org to expand the Empower to Employ program and a bonus award to be used for our social enterprise.   We supplement these foundation donations and grants through fundraising events and private donations.  In 2021, we will be eligible to apply for government grants from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services having received SAPTA Certification.

2020 Funding

Google.org NV Impact Challenge                  $175,000     grant     Feb 2020

            (to be used across 2020, 2021, 2022)

Google.org NV People’s Choice Award           $125,000     grant     Feb 2020

            (restricted for Social Enterprise use only)

Caesars Entertainment                                   $5,000   donation  Jan 2020

Penn National Gaming                                    $5,000   donation  Jan 2020

Credigy Solutions                                           $5,000   donation  Jul 2020

Verizon Wireless                                            $3,000  sponsorship   Aug 2020

The Josephs Foundation                                $1,000    donation  Aug 2020

Event Contributions                                   $8,215     donations YTD Oct 2020

Private Contributions                                $6,138      donations YTD Oct 2020

Empower to Employ Revenues                   $7,200      revenue     Q1 2020

UNSHAKEABLE’s annual funding is driven by corporate and family foundation donations, corporate grants, fundraiser events and private donations.  We also launched an online store mid-2020 which drives some additional revenues.

2021 Operating Budget

Operating Income                                                                   $151,540

Donations                                                                    $33,000

            Donations – Corporate                       $22,000

            Donations – Family Foundations           $5,000

            Donations – Private                              $6,000

Fundraising                                                                 $28,000

            Fundraising – Board                              $4,000

            Fundraising – Events                           $24,000

Corporate Grants                                                        $60,000

Government Grants                                                      $4,000

Programming Revenue                                                  $5,000

In-Kind Labor Revenue                                                $20,790

Online Store Net Revenues                                              $750

UNSHAKEABLE operates on a calendar fiscal year and in 2021 we anticipate expenses tallying around $150k including in-kind labor.  Below is a projected breakdown of major operating expense categories.  Our programming has limited tangible expenses as we don’t house, feed, or clothe our clients.  UNSHAKEABLE’s programs are professional services driven.

2021 Operating Budget

Operating Expenses                                                                $150,486

Nonprogramming Expenses (30%)                               $45,657

            Administration                                    $25,580

            Fundraising Expenses                            $6,960

            Marketing                                           $13,117

Programming Expenses (70%)                                    $104,829

            I AM Series                                          $49,065

            Career Development                          $53,984

            Business Alliance                                  $1,780

UNSHAKEABLE is looking to expand its capacity in the Clark County, NV as well as expand our geographic reach of the Empower to Employ program into the Boise, ID region where 3.5% of the population has been identified with a substance addiction.  Our expansion plans require funding to hire additional programming staff to support the additional women we hope to provide with our workforce integration services.

To expand capacity in Clark County, NV, we need to add to our career coaching and programming support teams to facilitate additional I AM Series and to accommodate more clients receiving individual career development.  And as discussed in the barriers section, with this expansion comes the need for additional volunteer faculty to teach the I AM Series who possess the topical expertise along with a heart to help heal broken women. 

To expand geographically and launch UNSHAKEABLE and its Empower to Employ program in Boise, ID, we need to we need to pay a full-time staff member on the ground in that region to establish partnerships with organizations rehabilitating women healing from trauma, recruit the volunteer faculty and facilitate the I AM Series, provide career coaching and build a Business Alliance with Boise, ID businesses.   We have a small network of supporters in this region, but MIT Solve could play a vital role in our expansion by connecting us with a workforce board in the Boise, ID area to accelerate the networking required for the Business Alliance.  

We have a list of new nonprofit partners in Southern NV who we want to partner with and provide our Empower to Employ program to their clients.   To accommodate these new partners, we need to schedule additional I AM Series and be prepared to have more individual clients from among the graduates of the I AM Series, both require an expansion of our programming team.  This includes adding another Career Coach and adding a full-time programming specialist who can focus on facilitating the classes, building relationships with our clients, and supporting our volunteer faculty to make their time serving UNSHAKEABLE as seamless as possible. 

The Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge will provide the funding required to cover our financial needs for expanding in Clark County, NV as well as launching UNSHAKEABLE and the Empower to Employ program in Boise, ID.

We established relationships with the organizations below and they provide our clients with tours and host career chats while our clients are exploring careers and then provide training for careers that don’t require a college degree but do require a certification or on the job training.  These partners understand our clients are healing from trauma and provide the added emotional support required as they start on their career path.  They assist with applying for grant not loan-based financial aid, so our clients aren’t burdened with student debt.

One Stop Career Center – An American Job Center for NV - Provides a wide array of employment services and connects jobseekers to work-related training and education.

Nevada Women in Trades – Preparing women for careers in high skilled trade occupations.  Provides a 150-hour Pipeline Comprehensive Course with math, science, safety readiness and test taking skills to pass trade apprenticeship exams and give a competitive advantage to securing a seat in a coveted trade apprenticeship.

Culinary Academy of Las Vegas – Hospitality training institute offering 15 programs in hospitality work, and employability skills training, and language instruction.  They train people for successful, family-sustaining careers in the Las Vegas hospitality industry. 

Expertise Cosmetology Institute – Equips students with knowledge to thrive in the barbering and salon environments.  Programs include Hair Design, Nail Technology, and Aesthetics.

United Education Institute College – Las Vegas – Focus on in-demand career training and offer lab simulations and externship opportunities.  Programs include certifications in Medical, Trades and Business.