Visit www.barnabasuplift.org or call (319) 551-1778.
Barnabas, the name of an early believer (Acts 11: 21-30), means “son of encouragement.” The Barnabas Uplift program
 offers:
• Certified nurse’s aid training—free to applicants who are at or below the federal poverty
 guideline.
• Workshops on business ideas, business plan writing, feasibility studies, market assessments, niche marketing, Internet commerce, marketing, accounting and access to business capital.
• Tax preparation assistance and an explanation of the earned income tax credit.
• Mission Health, an affordable way to address preventative and primary health-care needs.
• Mission Prescriptions, a discount service for uninsured or underinsured members of Lutheran congregations and their friends, including Barnabas Uplift participants.
• Iowans Save!, which matches a dollar for each dollar saved up to $1,000 toward a home purchase. The program includes financial education and a seminar for first-time home-buyers. Iowans Save! for Refugees matches up to $2,000 toward a home, business, education or vehicle.
• Face It Together, which helps employers identify and refer employees who need help with alcohol or drug abuse.
Tisha Smith glowed as she wore her new uniform to the Barnabas Uplift
celebration in Waterloo, Iowa. She crossed the stage of Trinity
American Lutheran’s fellowship hall, shook hands with U.S. Sen. Charles
Grassley, accepted her certified nursing assistant certificate and
heard that she was a role model.
For
this she thanks Barnabas Uplift, a self-help program spearheaded by the
Southeastern Iowa, Western Iowa and Northeastern Iowa synods and
Lutheran Services in Iowa, an ELCA social ministry organization. The
ministry offers people tools to lift them out of poverty.
“I’d
been thinking about certified nursing assistant training for a long
time but couldn’t come up with the dollars,” Smith says. “You have to
pay a lot up front. This program made it possible.”
Smith
contacted Barnabas Uplift after reading its newsletter. Program staff
alerted her to training available through ISED Ventures, an agency that
helps people start a small business, obtain a quality job and build
financial assets.
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© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
