The Path Ahead:

Nicole Tompkins Discusses Her Future Off Welfare

Aired September 16, 1999

This is INFOhio After Nine, welcome to Wednesday, September 16th, 1999. I am David C. Barnett, and we've got some compelling personal stories for you this morning. Congressman Dennis Kucinich will tell us how the actions of lawmakers may affect the future of welfare recipients in our area after we hear from a local mother who has overcome all sorts of obstacles in her struggle to survive the "Changing Face of Welfare" in Ohio. The state has given those on the public dole a three-year lifetime limit. Nicole Tompkins, who is a teen mother, is determined not to stay on the rolls, so she decided to change course, make a better life for herself and her three children. As part of 90.3's continuing series on welfare, correspondent Harry Boomer talked with Tompkins about what lies ahead for her family.

Nicole Tompkins–It was like someone was always watching you. It feels great. I'm glad my stay is over, you know, I'm through with it, I'm happy.

Harry Boomer–Nicole Tompkins has good reason to be happy. The mother of three young girls went on welfare September 29th, 1992, one day after her 18th birth anniversary. On June 7th, 1999, she left the welfare rolls, but she didn't stop there.

NT–In May I graduated from Tri-C Metro with an associate applied science and law enforcement, and from there I went to a temporary agency to get a job, which placed me at Cleveland State University, and I was hired there permanently in August, so that's where I am now, and (HB: Congratulations.), thank you, and I'm working on my bachelor's in criminal justice at Cleveland State.

HB–Nicole lives with her mother, her daughters, and her younger brother. They live in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood on the near west side of Cleveland. Her struggle towards self-sufficiency has not only benefited Nicole, it has also inspired those around her.

NT–Simone just turned 10 on Labor Day, and Nishea is 5, she just started kindergarten, and Shevon is 3, and they've all been fine. They like school, and she doesn't like being by herself that much, but she'll get her turn in school. They seem to be doing well. (HB: What kind of a future now do you see for them, through what you're doing?) Well, I see a positive future because my daughters tell me, "well, I want to go to college just like mommy," and "I want to work and go to school." I say, well, you know, you might not have to work and go to school because I can take care of you, and they are, "we want to do it anyway." It's like, you don't have to unless you really want to, so it's an incentive. (HB: And a positive influence, because they saw you do it, and a lot of people don't understand how important it is that kids look at their parents and people around them, and they see the example. You're always being watched by somebody, somebody is watching you all the time.) Yes they are, all the time, it's like, the little girl down the street asked me, "you went to Tri-C?" I said, "Yeah." She goes, "My mommy has a picture of you." I said, "What?" She said, "Yeah, she has two, she says, 'See, this girl lived down my street and she graduated,'" and I was like, wow. I was shocked, because the little girl speaks to me every day, and she just told me this on Monday. It's like, wow, unbelievable.

HB–Unbelievable, maybe. But Nicole Tompkins is living proof that with help, whether from the welfare system and/or family, goals are achievable.

NT–A lot of my friends say, "wow, how do you do it, go to school raise your kids?" It wasn't easy, and they say, "well you make it look like it was so easy," and I'm like, "well it wasn't," you know, regardless of what it looked like on the outside, it was not easy. My mom was always there for me, my dad passed on early, so it was always her and me and my brother, and we all had each other and those were my so-to-speak rocks that kept me going, and I'd never give up because I always knew that I had somebody looking up to me, which was my younger brother, and he's still doing it, because when I graduated from Tri-C, he was the one holding my degree, taking the pictures.

HB–Now, the 20-year-old brother wants to go to college as his older sister has done. Nicole, who turns 25 on the 28th, has earned the privilege to pass on what her quarter-century of life has taught her.

NT–Keep striving, there's always a way out. You never stop, always say "I can do it," never say "I can't," because once you say "I can't," you probably never will, and to stay in school and get your education, because without an education you can't do anything. I mean, a high school diploma isn't really worth anything now, it's just a piece of paper. Even an associate's isn't that good, but they recognize it, so you have to have more, go for as much as you can.

HB–Nicole plans to follow her own advice.

NT–I plan on staying at Cleveland State, finishing my bachelor's. I like the department I'm in, because I'm in the College of Education, so that's a great place, and from there I see myself going straight to the Cleveland Marshall School of Law.

HB–Maybe someday she will be known as Judge Nicole Tompkins or Congresswoman Tompkins. For her and others who make the best of a second chance, maybe there is no impossible dream. For INFOhio, I'm Harry Boomer in Cleveland.