JFY Staff Spotlight:
Meet Cassandra Moore

By Jessica Cage, 2010 JFY Graduate

Education:  Earned a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology with a minor in African Black Diaspora Studies from DePaul University.  Currently working toward a Master's Degree in School Counseling at Northeastern Illinois University.

Interested in the medical field? Take advantage of JFY's Electronic Health Care Records Program.

Exploring the Medical Field

 
By Aja Williams, 2010 JFY Graduate

What this world needs now is love, and much needed care - especially with the war and violence that surrounds us. The main job of any doctor, nurse, or physician is to heal or diagnose.  Anyone who chooses to go the route of saving a life should understand that it is all about commitment and most importantly passion. So, if you walked around with a briefcase that stored your toy stethoscope, pill bottles, and x - ray charts or loved to play Operation, you might be prepared to take the steps necessary to become a part of the "white coats and scrubs club."

Credit 101: The Importance of Credit & Why We Shouldn't Take It For Granted

 
By Chante' Johnson, 2010 JFY Graduate 
 
 As a young adult, credit probably isn't something you rely on heavily yet.  We don't really talk about it nor are we worried about it.  Credit is something that we should take seriously.  I've personally made some seriously wrong choices with my credit, and I regret it.  Now I want to give some pointers that JFY Board Member Cam Bielat helped me come up with for keeping your credit on track. 

Freshman year of college is where it started for me and probably many other young adults as well.  Students get all these credit card offers, student loans and other various items that affect your credit if not paid.  Hold off on getting a credit card unless you have a job to pay your bill on time every month.  Also, instead of accepting all student loans to pay for your education, try researching different grants and scholarships that you may qualify for.  You don't have to pay back grants or scholarships, but you do have to pay back student loans.  If you don't pay back your student loans, this WILL affect your credit tremendously. 

To keep track of what's going on with your credit, get a copy of your credit report.  You can obtain one free copy every year from www.annualcreditreport.com.  "If you see a mistake on your credit report, contact the credit bureau to try and dispute the item," says Cam,  "The only person that can fix your credit is you." 

Cam goes on and mentions that a secured credit card is a good resource when trying to fix your credit up. 

If you find yourself in debt, try to make some sort of payment arrangement to try to prevent these debts from being reported on your credit report.  Try to keep your credit score as high a possible.  The higher your score, the more you can do.  Some companies even check your credit report before you're hired.  Please know that as of this year, Illinois has a new law preventing employers from looking up a job applicant's credit history except in certain cases.  Click here to read more.

Keep track of everything you do.  Make sure that your social security number is something that you do not share with anyone.  Identity theft is another sure way to ruin your credit, and it's becoming more serious everyday.
 
I would like to send a special thank you to Cam Bielat, JFY Board Member, for his help with this article. 

Writer's Corner 

Excerpt from The High Arc Series: Revitalized, a novel by Jessica Cage,  2010 JFY Graduate 

Book Genre: Science Fiction

"This wasn't emptiness surrounding me. Looking closer I could see that it was moving. It was tangible and if I reached out, I would feel its cold and deadly power.  And from the raging I felt inside of me now, that would be the wrong decision to make.  It moved with a contemptuous display of life. I felt the wind again and this time it registered to me feeling more like a breath; the cold, stale breath of this thing. It started to engulf the bed, in an attempt to swallow it whole and take me with it. It crept towards me, and I smashed my back against what was left of the head board, trying to pull myself as far away from it as I could get. Hopelessness wrapped around me like a paralyzing blanket; there was nothing I could do.

Reluctantly, I gave in and tried to focus on anything but the pain I was sure to endure once it reached me. I closed my eyes tight and waited for the onslaught. Pain was nothing new to my body; years spent living in agony had to be worse than anything this thing could do, hopefully it would be over quickly. Then I was moving, hovering, I wanted to know what was happening but I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes."