Last weekend we talked about Harlem Success Academy and how they’re making huge strides in educating children from low-income families. What happens at school is extremely important when it comes to educational outcomes for children, but what happens at home can be just even more important. AchieveAbility is a Philadelphia based non-profit organization that is “working to permanently break the cycle of poverty for single parent, low income, formerly homeless families through education, supportive services, community and economic development, housing and accountability.” By helping low-income parents achieve their dreams, AchieveAbility is paving the way for a brighter future for both the parents and the children.

Help Others AchieveAbility

The people at AchieveAbility believe that reliable and affordable housing is the first step to breaking the cycle of poverty, so they offer program housing that provides the stability that families need to start making positive changes. They don’t just provide anyone housing, though. To qualify to be a part of AchieveAbility’s programs, clients must work 25 hours per week and take at least 15 credits per year towards a college or vocational degree. It sounds like an amazing program, and it’s clearly having results – 15 of AchieveAbility’s clients are celebrating their graduations this year.

If you believe strongly in helping families in need, and you think that AchieveAbility is taking the right approach, then you should consider joining their team. Their website is in the middle of a redesign, so they don’t seem to have their jobs posted on their site, but they are posted on Idealist. Right now AchieveAbility has two jobs with no experience requirements – Self-Sufficiency Coach and Academic Coach, and one job that requires a small amount of prior experience (but still seems like it could be well suited to a new college grad) – Manager of Volunteers. The job descriptions give a good sense of what you’ll be doing, so take a look at them. One thing that they say is that you should be comfortable working and doing home visits in West Philadelphia. I don’t know much about West Philly beyond what the Fresh Prince taught me (it is where he was “born and raised… on the playground is where I spent most of my days”), but it’s probably a tough area. If you’re interested in any of these jobs, send an e-mail to employment@achieve-ability.org with (1) your resume and (2) a cover letter indicating (a) your interest in the volunteer manager position and the reason for your interest, (b) your philosophy about helping families in need, (c) where you heard about this position, (d) your salary requirement and (e) the names and contact information of 3 references. Also, indicate the position title on the subject line of your e-mail.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Achieve-Ability.org
• Jobs with AchieveAbility (Idealist)
• About AchieveAbility
• AchieveAbility’s History
• AchieveAbility’s Programs and Services

What do you think of AchieveAbility? Look like something that you’d want to get involved with?

We've identified AchieveAbility as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• coaching
• education
• non-profit
• outreach
• Pennsylvania

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One response to “AchieveAbility”

1. ally o. hing says:

   December 14, 2008 at 2:54 pm

   I am a structural designer and wish to work with achieveability.org architects on low cost housing goals.

   Reply