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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A new program being offered by Goodwill Industries is helping people get back on their feet and back into the workforce.

The program trains students to become Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs).

The course is eight weeks long and includes classroom work, clinicals, and hands-on training at internships at one of Goodwill's adult daycare facilities.

The students receive the training from Front Range Nurse Aides.

Goodwill said they chose the CNA progra m because they found Colorado Springs had a growing medical field, and there was a demand for that position.

"We decided to start with CNAs because it's easy to get into, there's not a lot of training, but there's a demand for it," Evan Plattner, a Job Developer Specialist with Goodwill Industries, said.

Maria Swartz, a current student in the program, said it has turned her life around.

"My self-esteem was really low, and I didn't feel like I had anything to be proud of, other than raising my daughters," Swartz said.

Swartz was getting help from the Department of Human Services. 

"DHS was helping me pay my rent and electric, and it was a great help when you don't have anywhere to go," she said.

Swartz found out about Goodwill's' CNA program and applied, starting her on a journey to what she calls a better life.

"I believe that it has just been an opening door and the greatest opportunity of my life," Swartz said.

The program takes students who are on some type of benefit program and helps them become self-sufficient.

"They have to be on some type of benefits, whether it's TANF or Welfare, something to that nature," Plattner said.

Goodwill will then help place students in permanent jobs.

"My goal is to have them hired before they actually graduate," Plattner said.

Swartz said she is looking forward to taking care of her family on her own.

"They are going to place me in a job, and I will be working soon. I will be off of TANF and off of food stamps," Swartz said.

Swartz said this opportunity has changed her life and is showing her two daughters anything is possible.

"I will have a career, and I will be able to raise my daughters and show them that with hard work and determination that they can do whatever they put their mind to, and that is most important to me," she said.

There are currently 12 students in the program who will graduate in September, and another round of 12 students will start the program after that.