SABRINA’S STORY

At 19 Sabrina had a brush with the law that left lasting consequences.  “It was a wake-up call for me,” she says. “I got caught up in a situation and made some bad decisions. I realized it was time to grow up, to plan for my future and be responsible.” Sabrina’s journey hasn’t been easy. The biggest obstacle was finding sustainable employment with a criminal record. “I’d learned from my mistakes and wanted to get myself back on track. I saw a lot of people around me who weren’t striving to better their lives. I knew that something had to change.” So she took a risk in 2009 and left North Philly to start over in Pittsburgh, where she enrolled in a Job Corps college program and continued to look for work.  “I didn’t know anybody when I got here,” she says. “That didn’t matter. I was desperate to get away from negativity and start a new life.”

Now 28, Sabrina has been working hard to overcome her past for almost ten years. A few months ago she was juggling three part-time jobs and “hopping on a lot of buses” every day to get to work. The bus schedule ruled her life; it also limited her employment options. She missed out on opportunities that were inaccessible by bus or where the hours and bus schedules didn’t mesh. In October a friend told Sabrina about the United Way-funded collaboration of Ways to Work, a program that serves consumers unable to obtain car loans on the open market, and Community Auto, which sells inexpensive reliable used vehicles to low-income clients who need them to get to work. “I never thought I would own a car,” Sabrina says, “and now I do. I’m learning a lot about car ownership and money management. Best of all I was able to find a good full time job in Robinson that I wouldn’t have been able to get to before, by bus.” For Sabrina, her 2002 Buick means more than a smooth ride: “It means that my mistakes don’t have to follow me my whole life. I can do this. I am doing it, and I won’t quit as long as I have breath in me.”