Welfare-to-Work Competitive Grants

Second Round Award

Proposed Award Amount:            $1,365,336

Project Emphasis: Urban, homeless, noncustodial parents, learning disabled, substance abuse, non-traditional occupations for women, EZ/EC.

Summary Paragraph: The Jobs for Homeless Consortium will serve homeless welfare recipients and noncustodial parents in Alameda County. This program is an innovative partnership between the Jobs Consortium and RelyAble Choices, and concentrates on service to the whole family. The Jobs Consortium will use leveraged funds to provide job preparation services to help homeless participants become job ready and to stabilize their housing situation. RelyAble Choices will use Welfare-to-Work funds to place participants in subsidized temp-to-hire positions. After 13 weeks of on the job training, the participant will be hired as an unsubsidized employee in occupations such as carpentry, warehousing, and bus drivers.

Community Served: Alameda County, CA with a majority of the clients coming from Oakland.

Barriers/Target Group: The project will serve welfare recipients and noncustodial parents who have a history of homelessness. Some of the other barriers faced by the target population include physical and learning disabilities, poor education and lack of job skills, ex-offerder status, substance abuse and lack of reliable transportation.

Partnerships: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Alameda County CalWORKS, Bay Area Job Development Consortium, JobStart Employment Training Collaborative, Alameda Contra Costa Transit, Perfect Builder Services.

Innovations/Service Strategy: This program represents an innovative partnership between the Jobs Consortium and RelyAble Choices. It also demonstratives an inventive use of Federal dollars. The Jobs Consortium will use funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide job preparation services to help homeless participants become job ready and to stabilize their housing situation. Program participants will receive services with a concentration on the whole family, including services for children which will further support their parents' transition back to the workforce. RelyAble Choices will use WtW grant funds to place participants in subsidized temp-to-hire positions. After 13 weeks of on the job training, the participant will be hired as an unsubsidized employee by the employer. Targeted occupations include: carpentry, general labor, warehousing, and bus drivers.