Joye actually started with us just a couple weeks before COVID sent our entire staff home to work remotely. “It was a little intimidating to be on my own and in charge of a community helpline,” Joye said of that time; but despite tackling a new job in relative isolation, Joye managed just fine. In fact, she worked tirelessly to adapt the Helpline’s services to the needs of the community as our most vulnerable members coped with the new COVID reality.
It probably helped that she already had experience working on a helpline through her prior job as a Housing Resource Specialist at Housing Access of Washtenaw County (HAWC). While Joye already knew the difficulties families faced finding housing after a setback like eviction, her experience with the FID Helpline gave her insight into all of the other struggles faced by low-income families in our community.
“I get a lot of personal interaction with the community and get to hear what the community struggles with outside of what people consider the basics of housing utilities and food – all of the other aspects of life,” Joye said. “And they are all expensive.”
While she believes in the need for all of the services offered through the Helpline, she thinks that the transportation assistance is especially important. “Car issues can be devastating to a household and are so often unaffordable to low-income families. It is unreasonable to think a family can afford a $1,600 car repair when they aren’t making that much in a month.”
Joye’s ability to empathize with her clients is reflected in her work history. Aside from a brief stint as a paralegal, Joye has always been attracted to the human services field. Her first job was as a daycare preschool teacher. She also spent 10 years rehabbing people suffering from traumatic brain injury.
Joye is married and lives with her husband, her 8-year-old stepson, 12-year-old daughter and new puppy in Ypsilanti.