From the challenges of foster care and homelessness to independence, Akiva Sequoyah is rebuilding his life through hard work, initiative, and help from the Allentown Rescue Mission and its community partners. Reflecting on his journey, Akiva embraces a guiding principle: change your fate with determination.
Akiva spent most of his childhood bouncing around the foster care system. Eventually, in his mid-teens,
his grandmother adopted him, but he found adapting to life outside of the foster care system harder
than he imagined.
Wrestling with the difficulties of his unstable childhood, Akiva struggled in most areas of his life. “Anger
was my greatest hurdle,” Akiva admitted. He graduated from high school, but at seventeen, he was
arrested and charged as an adult. After spending time in jail, he didn’t have anywhere to go, and that’s
when he found the Allentown Rescue Mission.
Determined to build a stable foundation for his future, Akiva enrolled in the Mission’s Transformation
Program. There, he began working through personal challenges, turning his anger into drive. Akiva
stated, “Through the Mission and my personal journey, I learned patience, self-control, and how to
focus on what matters.”
Akiva also recognized that long-term success required specialized job skills. With the guidance of his
Mission counselor, he discovered an opportunity through PA CareerLink Lehigh Valley to enroll in Lehigh
Career & Technical Institute’s welding program. Akiva took the initiative to complete the CareerLink
requirements and attend welding classes while simultaneously completing 120 class hours in the
Transformation Program. Upon successful completion of the classes, his tuition and transportation were
fully covered by PA CareerLink and the Allentown Rescue Mission’s scholarship program.
After graduating from the Allentown Rescue Mission’s Transformation Program, Akiva took a job with
the Clean Team Workforce. He worked approximately 35 hours a week at a local auto salvage yard
while finishing his welding classes.
In April, Akiva graduated and passed his welding certification. He began interviewing; however, landing
a job proved challenging because of his incarceration. Recognizing the obstacle, the Clean Team
Workforce manager contacted a local business executive who had been a Clean Team Workforce
customer for over ten years.