Home-life “upside-down?” VCU program provided advice for dealing with tough times

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Council for Community Engagement and VCU HR Work/Life Resources hosted “What’s Happening to My House? VCU Families: Coping with the economy in good times and bad.”

The program provided VCU employees and their families with information for finding a job, improving personal and family finances and coping with stress. The program was held May 19 in the University Student Commons.

Organizers said ordinary problems can become even more challenging in a poor economic climate, turning a person’s home life “upside-down.”

“Even if you haven’t personally been affected by the economic crisis, you probably know someone who has,” said Catherine Howard, Ph.D., vice provost for the Division of Community Engagement. “What we wanted to do here is put together a program for the VCU and VCU Health System community that would bring the university’s resources together,” Howard said.

Workshops offered advice for retooling job skills, financing a child’s education and organizing and maintaining a family budget. Other sessions focused on strategies for managing stress, reducing credit card debt and planning for retirement.

The “resume express” session allowed job seekers to get personal assistance on their resumes.

“I found that to be extremely helpful,” said Evetta Bolling of Mechanicsville. “I got tips for shortening my resume and answers to my questions about the best way to update my resume,” Bolling said.

Between sessions, more than a dozen vendors provided information about their goods and services to participants.

“A lot of people stepped up to the plate to make this work in a very short time,“ Howard said.  “It’s gratifying and speaks a lot to the spirit we have here at VCU. I think we’re on to something and we want to hear from people to help us decide what programs to offer when we hold this again,” Howard said.