Staff Spotlight: Patricia Martinez, Pre-ETS

What is your title, and what department do you work in at BCS?

I work in Pre-ETS. It’s pre-employment services for participants, so we do job exploration with them. Some of them are still students in high school; some of them just graduated from high school and are in between; some of them are in college; some are older adults as well; some are trying to reenter the workforce. They might have been working, and then somehow they got injured. Then they want to rejoin the workforce, but they can’t do what they were doing before. It all depends. There are different circumstances for each participant. 

The majority of them have a learning disability. What we do with them is job exploration. We try to explain to them–if they want to work and go into certain careers–they might have to get more training or education. Or, maybe they want to explore other avenues like going into the military or it’s some other type of studies that will help them. 

Also, with the participants that have learning disabilities, I do something that’s also called self-advocacy. I explain to them that they have certain rights. They should speak up for themselves, especially once they get a job. Maybe ask for more time for training or if they have a doctor’s appointment or need to take time off. Sometimes, they might just need three minutes or five minutes to calm down because a lot of them suffer from anxiety and stress. Work could become too stressful for them, and if they speak up, they might get the help they need.

How long have you been at BCS, and what was your journey to ending up in this position?

In 2022, I was looking for a job. I was talking to a friend of mine, and I said to her, “You know, I’m looking for a job. Do you know anyone who’s hiring?” She got back to me a couple of weeks later and said, “Oh, you know, at my sister’s job, they’re hiring. Are you still interested?” She spoke with her sister, and then BCS contacted me. 

I wound up working with Theresa because she was doing housing at the time, re-housing all the Hurricane Ida victims. That was pretty interesting because I helped most of my clients get new apartments or get housed. There were only one or two that I wasn’t able to re-house because one of them didn’t have citizenship paperwork and another person was overqualified.

When the contract ended with the city, then I was left without a job. But then in the beginning of 2024, I got a phone call from Rose saying they had a new position. So I interviewed, got the job, and ended up in this department. 

What are your favorite aspects of your job?

That I can help people. With the Hurricane Ida victims, they were in that hotel for such a long time, and just knowing that they were going to new apartments–that was satisfying. A lot of them didn’t know that there’s a lot of paperwork to be filled out when you’re applying for public health or city apartments, the housing connect apartments, those types of things.

Now, with the students in Pre-ETS, I enjoy just helping the young adults and also the older adults. We help prepare them for the workforce, saying, “This is gonna happen. What do you need to do? You need to have your resume–an active, updated resume.” Things like that. It gives me satisfaction that I’m helping them either enter the workforce or re-enter the workforce. 

Have you had any particularly memorable client success stories? 

There was one family that, when they came in, I think they were sort of doubtful about being helped as far as getting an apartment. But later on, when they were able to get the apartment, they were really happy and thankful. As far as now, with the students in Pre-ETS…some of the students won’t talk to me, but as the sessions go on, they start to open up more and become more comfortable. In the beginning, I didn’t think I was going to be able to get anywhere with the sessions, but as the sessions went along, they got comfortable. I was able to get them into a comfortable spot, and then they open up and participate without their parents being present. I found out that they have a good sense of humor, and I’m able to get through the sessions and provide the services that we were hired to provide for them. So that’s satisfying, too.