Featured Member: Yolanda Collins on HBCU CONNECT!

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Q&A With Yolanda Collins

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Yolanda Collins
Location: Atlanta , GA United States
Joined: May 26th, 2015

About (request update)

I was born in June 1961 in Baltimore, Maryland. Running away from home, my mother and her abusive live-in boyfriend, I accepted the first invitation of admission, starting my undergraduate studies at Wesleyan College in 1978 at the age of 16. During my junior year, my studies were interrupted by an on campus kidnapping ... http://www.news-record.com/night-of-terror-haunts-victims-killer-on-death-row/article_75178018-5b83-5891-be49-8a5c4cec0ca9.html, my personal story of survival. Worked a little while in the federal Stay-In-School Program at the Social Security Administration. Returned to finish my undergraduate studies at Goucher College, a women's college. I chose Goucher believing it could offer the sense of security while living on campus. I did not finish timely ... the foreign language requirement ... couldn't get pass intermediate French. In 1986, I completed this requirement successfully and walked across the stage with a son just a few days old. Worked several years at a case manager for the Dept. of Social Services working in the Income Maintenance Unit. While there I met with Teamsters and became a shop steward. By the time I left DSS in 1993, I had three more children. Two sets ... the older set in my 20's and the younger in my 30's. By this time, I had also purchased my first home ... the first home of my grandparents when they moved from the projects. Life was hard but I was blessed to have my family and have them in a family home. One of hugest blessings was my involvement with Head Start. The Head Start Program empowered me ask questions and to understand the "whys". It used words like self-sufficiency, sustainability and self-determination. I was encouraged to seek the positions of Policy Committee and Council Chairpersons. I transitioned from Head Start parent to staff in 1999. I created and presented trainings with the National Head Start Association on how to transition parents to staff positions at the local programs. In 2001, I began a Dual Master's Program with Coppin State University and University of Baltimore, achieving in 2004 a Master of Science from each institution in Human Service Administration and Negotiation and Conflict Management, respectively. The resume reflects the rest. I had a lot of personal struggles and barriers to overcome associated with being a single-parent but not sure if that should be included in this biography. Yet, without the struggles ... how did I get here?

Education (request update)

Coppin State University class of 2004

Undergrad Major: Undecided

Claim To Fame:

Currently volunteering for the Office of the Attorney General. Accepted into five accredited law schools.