Hope Restored

She says her boss called her and simply said, "'Pamela, you've been unselected.'" The caller was reading from a script.

"That was the verbiage," McGimpsey recalls. "You heard that, and then your manager said 'goodbye.' The call is a slap into reality that you are expendable. And that's how I felt. Expendable."

When a person is treated that way, they lose more than a paycheck.

And that is the premise InnerVision is built on.

InnerVision is a nonprofit providing employment, education and life management skills to the unemployed, and it just opened a new facility in uptown Charlotte across from the Transit Center.

"We realize that the devastation of not being employed impacts people in many ways," says InnerVision founder, director and CEO Dr. Cheryl Nicholas. "Social isolation, inability to access the things that they've grown accustomed to, and a decrease in the overall quality of life, so here at InnerVision we offer a comprehensive array of services," she says.

The unemployed can work out at the facility, called the Economic Empowerment Center, and they'll find many different types of seminars, workshops and support groups. They can get vocational assessment and training, including contact with hiring employers. They can even get help with addiction.

Mayor Anthony Foxx cut the ribbon.

"This is huge for the community," he says. "There are so many folks who are there beating the pavement every day, looking for work, and we've got to keep their morale up. This is a place where they're taking of resumes, yes, but also the spirit of the person." 

By Melissa Hankins, Reporter

Posted:

Aug 22, 2011 5:10 PM EDT

<!--END wnDate-->Updated:

Aug 23, 2011 1:17 PM EDT<!--END wnDate-->