Grant Helps Woman Get New Career

Willetta Powell hopes she is on her way to a new $40,000-a-year career, thanks to a scholarship from the Affordable Housing Management Assn.

The $750 vocational grant she recently received from the nonprofit organization launched the 56-year-old cancer survivor into a certificate program at Valley College in Valley Glen.

“I was about as excited as I could get,” Powell said.

She used the money to enroll this summer in the first of four mandatory classes, ranging in price from $70 to $115 each, to become a certified medical billing specialist.

“Buying books and paying tuition would have been very difficult for me on my limited income,” said Powell, who receives $751 a month from state disability.

Powell is one of 16 residents selected for either a $1,500 academic or $750 vocational scholarship from privately owned affordable housing complexes in Southern California, Arizona and southern Nevada. Members of the Orange County-based organization that oversees the program--now in its 16th year--either manage or own property for low- to moderate-income families, seniors and those with disabilities.

Bruce Solari, of the housing organization, said Powell was selected because she persevered when others would have given up.

She moved into the 56-unit Pendleton Arms apartments in Sun Valley a year ago with her 23-year-old son, William, after being on the waiting list for five years. She and William had lived at another subsidized complex for 15 years, but it had few amenities and the North Hollywood neighborhood had deteriorated, she said.

She loves her new wall-to-wall carpeting, air conditioning and outdoor patio--extras her old place didn’t have.

“She’s a good woman,” said Connie Acuna, Powell’s landlady, who plans to display the scholarship certificate in the rental office. “By her winning, I hope the others can see that this is real.”

Powell pays $335 a month for her ground-floor apartment. She and her son qualify for the low rent because they make less than 50% of the median area income.

Powell was the only resident in the complex to apply for the scholarship, Acuna said. Powell said she was motivated after seeing a magazine article about lucrative in-home careers.

“I thought I had as good a chance as anybody,” she said.

On a recent Saturday, Powell listened to a lecture on Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes of medical words, such as itis (inflammation), opsy (to view) and scopy (to examine visually). She hopes to have 250 medical terms memorized by mid-August, when the five-week class ends. Her next class, this fall, will be on coding medical terms for insurance companies.

“Not everyone makes it to the end,” said instructor Albert Boquiren of the all-day lectures and 10 hours of homework recommended each week.

Powell is not worried.

“If I use my common sense, I already know a lot of these terms,” she said. “I practically lived at the hospital for a while.”

Powell was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 1991 and had to quit her $7-an-hour telemarketing job soon after to recover from two surgeries. She has been on disability ever since and is eager to rejoin the work force.

She could probably slow down but she refuses. Aside from going to school and memorizing medical terms, she works on her autobiography, sings karaoke and learns to play the piano.

“I have a full life,” she said. “I’m not sitting around waiting for people to entertain me.”

Powell estimates she will earn her certificate in six months. The next hurdle will be to come up with about $1,800 in software for her home computer to be competitive and attract clients such as health organizations, private doctors and hospitals.

She may find help. On her desk is a book titled “Free Money to Change Your Life.”

Other scholarship winners from the San Fernando Valley are: Ines Mancia of Sun Valley, a recent graduate of Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley who will attend UC Berkeley in the fall; and Diego Naboa of Sun Valley, a graduating senior from Westlake High School in Westlake Village who will attend UC Santa Cruz this fall.

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