PHOTOS BY CLARE JENSEN

Vanessa Lallashute (center), a Yakama Tribal member, was the first Native American to graduate from Goodwill's office essentials program. She stands with the Puyallup Tribe's Workforce Investment Act director Toni De Brie (left) and Goodwill CEO Terry Hayes (right), on April 9.

First Native woman to graduate from Goodwill program, through Tribe’s WIA

By Clare Jensen

April 7 was a proud day for Vanessa Lallashute. She graduated from Tacoma Goodwill’s Office Essentials Program as the first Native American woman ever to do so. She also started her new job and felt a sense of accomplishment, something she had not felt for some time.

Vanessa Lallashute, a Yakama Tribal member, recently moved to the Puget Sound area. She had been unemployed since September 2007, and after months of looking for work with no avail, she went to the Puyallup Tribe’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) office for help.

Vanessa Lallashute had experience working in an office. Before she became unemployed she worked as a bookkeeper for her tribe. While she had basic office skills, she found she was lacking the required computer experience most jobs demanded.

“I had just lost a lot of my typing skills – and I had to learn Excel,” she said. “A lot of jobs require 60 words per minute.”

Toni De Brie, director of the Puyallup Tribe’s WIA office, said when she met Vanessa Lallashute and assessed her needs, she felt Goodwill’s office essentials program would be the program best fit for her.

The WIA networks with a variety of local non-profit and for-profit organizations to find as many resources for their Native clientele who are seeking jobs and job training.

Vanessa Lallashute was one those hundreds of clients who can look back on their experience with a smile.

“I feel accomplished,” she said. “I learned a lot. I hope we can get more Natives in this program.”  

Vanessa Lallashute completed the eight-week program in six weeks. After graduating, she was placed in a 160-hour internship as an assistant at Tacoma Urban League.

While she hopes to remain at the Urban League after her work experience program, the sky is the limit for Vanessa Lallashute’s office career.

Kimberly Heymann, transitional employment coordinator at Goodwill, said 90 percent of her graduates in a variety of Goodwill’s programs go on to find a job in the field they were trained for. She deemed Vanessa Lallashute as a true success story.

“We hope to have many more,” she said.

Toni De Brie, who began working with the Puyallup Tribe in 2007, previously directed eight WIA programs in Arizona.

“I am very new to Tacoma,” she said. “I started looking at community resources to help develop our ‘Wired’ network.” Toni De Brie said she worked closely with the Goodwill in Arizona as well. “Goodwill presents a wonderful partnership to utilize the resources that are housed in this building,” she said. “Goodwill has programs that we [WIA] don’t have at this time.”

WIA is grant-funded by the Department of Labor, and they are constantly networking with other systems and organizations to utilize external resources.

Toni De Brie applauded Vanessa Lallashute April 7 for being a strong, independent Native American woman.

“It’s a pleasure to see Ms. Lallashute graduate.”

The Puyallup Tribe’s WIA program is also working with youth ages 14-21 to help them gain work experience and training skills.

For more information on how WIA can help you develop your workforce skills, contact their office at (253) 573-7981.

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