Kaiyah Taylor didn't know if she had the motivation to get past two devastating, painful setbacks.

In April, her great-grandmother Mary Louise Kelly, whom she called nana, died. Three months later, the Newark resident had to close her hair salon after learning that the owner of the property was renting to her illegally.

Having sunk her life's savings into her entrepreneurial dream, Taylor didn't know where to turn or who to trust.

"Feeling discouraged and defeated, I was at my breaking point," she said. "What was left for me?"

Enter a job-readiness program that takes unemployed Newark residents and turns them into desirable job candidates in four weeks. For the fourth time in two years, Hire Newark has worked. The latest class, of 27 participants, graduated Monday, and the majority of them have jobs.

Guess who was the class speaker during the ceremony at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center?

It was Kaiyah Taylor.

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She was the right choice as someone who overcame personal and professional pain and then skepticism about the program when she started it in October.

27 Newark residents who were chronically unemployed graduate at the Hire Newark Employment Ready Boot Camp Class IV Graduation Ceremony at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark.

"I didn't trust them," she said. "I didn't trust myself. I was in a broken space."

Job coaches filled that void with confidence, humility and love. Then they gave Taylor and her classmates a toolbox for how to interview and how to land a job and keep it.

She let her guard down to get the win in life that she needed. Taylor is now employed. Her first day as a secretary at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville was Wednesday.

Her classmates have started working, too, or they are about go to orientation, thanks to a program that shouldn't be called a program. It's a journey that changes lives.

Alfred Elliott said he never liked going on job interviews. He was nervous and stumbled over his answers to questions. To avoid that route, he preferred employment with temp agencies that sent him to work sites without inquiry.

After a month with Hire Newark, Elliott walks with his chest out and his head held high.

"I know what to say and know how to respond to questions accurately," he said.

He has been hired as an inventory specialist for RWJBarnabas Health and expects to start soon.

Sasha McCullough has a new attitude, as well. She's excited about a full-time position at the greenhouse in Essex County's Branch Brook Park and forever indebted to the job coaches, who taught the class how to cope with personal problems and offered nuggets of information that will help them on the job.

Things like knowing what to do at a work site, when to observe, when to speak up, all the while learning the culture of their employer.

"It's amazing how they break it down,'' she said.

This life-altering experience for Newark residents was started by Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and RWJBarnabas Health in collaboration with Mayor Ras Baraka's Centers of Hope initiative.

Including the most recent job candidates, 83 residents have completed the free training that puts them on the path to careers.

"Not only is it the socially conscious thing to do, it's actually the economically prudent thing to do," Baraka said at the graduation. "If all of these corporations could take the lead of Beth Israel, the city would be a lot further ahead."

Newark Beth Israel hired V. Randolph Brown Consulting, a Cincinnati-based company, and it created Hire Newark, which is designed to be transformational. The sessions, one-on-one coaching, delve into the lives of participants, who often become emotional when they open up and share their stories.

It's that close and personal. At the graduation, Wayne Miller, a job coach, couldn't keep his eyes from reddening before reading a poem that he wrote to the class. He told them how someone took time to invest in him the way he's giving back to them.

Some say Hire Newark should be replicated, and it should. Vincent Brown, president of the consulting company that created the program, doesn't know how that can happen if there aren't committed corporations such as Newark Beth Israel.

He doesn't know how it happens without loyal job coaches, who stay in touch with Hire Newark alumni, who, in turn, come back to inspire others going through the training.

"We have a better understanding of what impact we're having on people's lives," said Darrell Terry, president and chief executive officer of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Children's Hospital of New Jersey in Newark.

"You can feel it."

It not only touches the graduates, but their families, too.

Marc Berson, chairman of the Board of Trustees of RWJBarnabas Health, said Hire Newark affects the city's bottom line, which is to have residents employed and contributing to the economy.

"The mayor had a vision, and I really believe it was our responsibility to try and figure out a way to implement that," Berson said.

Moving forward, employment opportunities in Newark are expected to increase substantially. Newark Beth Israel has pledged to hire 350 city residents as part of Baraka's 2020 initiative to have Newark companies hire 2,020 residents by the year 2020. Anyone interested in applying should go through the Newark2020 website at https://www.hirebuylive.com/hire-newark/

Shaun King is at the head of the employment wave, now that he has graduated and will start working in the housekeeping department at Newark Beth Israel. Until this week, he said, his wife had been financially supporting the household, but now he can take the lead again.

"She doesn't have to worry no more," he said. "It's my turn."

Taylor no longer has to wonder how she will recover. The loss of her great-grandmother and business has made her a stronger woman, who trusted her faith and a caring team of committed professionals.

"When God is in the midst, things begin to happen, things begin to shift," Taylor said.

Nothing can stop her now.

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL