Vanisha Reeves works full time at Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids as a coordinator of other housekeepers making $14 dollars per hour. I had to meet her during her lunch break because that’s the only time she had between her two jobs. When she first was hired, she was 8 months pregnant and desperate to find a way to support herself and her son.
“When I came in as a tech I was only making $10 dollars so I knew I need this second job because I knew I had to take care of me, my mom and my son so it was just like ‘I can’t let this go’ so I had to keep it. I have no support from his father so therefore $10 an hour was nothing. Nothing at all. I literally lived check to check when I was making the $10.”
Even though Reeves makes close to the median household income for African Americans in Grand Rapids at $32,450 dollars, she is also part of those who struggle to make ends meet despite having a full-time job. But unlike some, Reeves can count on family to fill in gaps.
“My dad let go of his second job just because he was just like “no, my grandson is not going to daycare”. Him and my mom worked their schedule out to accommodate me for both of my jobs to watch my son.
Now, Reeves continues to work two jobs to afford a one-bedroom apartment for herself, her mother and her son but she hopes one day to become a supervisor and achieve financial stability.
“After a supervisor I feel like I should be financially stable that I shouldn’t have to work two jobs.”
In a city that’s been ranked one of the top 20 ‘best places to live in the USA’ according to U.S. News & Work Report, but where unemployment rate for white residents is 4.3 percent, while its 15 percent for African Americans, according to 2016 data from the bureau of labor statistics, the question is really ‘best place to live for whom?’
Michelle Jokisch Polo, WGVU News.
