Three Cities Hiring Formerly Homeless To Help Keep Cities Safe And Clean.
1. Cincinnati, Ohio:
For Spectrum News 1, Sheena Elzie reports on Cincinnati’s new clean team that provides people experiencing homelessness paid jobs “picking up trash… and [an opportunity] to get more help through an area shelter and outreach programs.” Gerald Cooper, the coordinator of the city’s clean team who was once homeless himself, said that at “the end of a cleaning day, he [also] takes the workers to City Gospel Mission, a homeless shelter where they’ll get food.”
Joe Rudemiller, who oversees the program, told WCPO, Cincinnati’s local ABC affiliate, that the program has seen success in its first year:
“Cleaning 674 miles worth of streets, filling 5,566 bags of trash, paying out $70,155, connecting 125 [people] to other social services for assistance, linking 34 people with permanent housing; and helping 18 people get permanent employment.”
The program has also been life-changing for the workers doing the clean up. Lori Gilbert, who had been experiencing homelessness for about a year when she took a job with the team, attributes the program with helping turn her life around. Here’s more from WCPO:
“‘It kind of gave me a purpose in life again, and it kind of helped motivate me to get off the streets. It helped me remember that’s what I came from… I love what I do…I love giving back to the city [and] I’m just ready to get my life back on track.’ [Gilbert] has been saving her money since she got the job and already has bought a car. She is now looking for a second, part-time job so she can afford her car insurance and earn enough to leave the sober house for a place of her own.”
2. Denver, Colorado:
For ABC7 in Denver, Angelika Albaladejo and Óscar Contreras report on Mayor Mike Johnston’s new safety ambassador team that wears bright yellow vests while patrolling walkways and shopping areas on foot to be a visible deterrent to crime. A lot of the people whom the ambassadors interact with are experiencing homelessness. Thus, the city ensured that the safety ambassadors team includes people who themselves have experienced homelessness, which makes it easier for them to “help others going through similar struggles.”
The ambassadors also respond both “to reports of safety and cleanliness issues” in downtown Denver” and “with non-emergent needs such as: helping a tourist find Coors Field or to request the help of Denver’s [mobile crisis response] program if someone is in distress downtown…"
3. Norman, Oklahoma:
For The Journal Record, Chip Minty reports on a new program before the city council that would create clean teams to pick up trash around the city while providing an “opportunity for members of Norman’s homeless community to [be paid to] pick up litter across the community…”
Norman Mayor Larry Heikkila explained to the newspaper that many of the city’s homeless community “have found themselves in difficult circumstances because of life-changing events such as job loss, divorce, eviction, heavy debt, addiction: ‘We can help these people… they can re-engage with society through work we can get them the services they need.”
As Minty reports, in addition to the paid work picking up trash around the city, the program will also help “workers obtain drivers licenses, state IDs and birth certificates…[and] help with resumes—documents that are often key to obtaining permanent employment and housing.”
Related: Baltimore Hire Youth To “Improve Themselves While Cleaning Up The City”:
For WMAR, Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, Jeff Morgan reports on the city’s new summer clean team, called My Father’s Plan, that employs youth from Northeast Baltimore to “hit the streets with grabbers and trash bags [and] pick up trash…grabbing water bottles and wrappers that fill and line the drainage grates, [or] cans that never made it anywhere near a trash can.” My Father’s Plan focuses on youth from underinvested communities in Baltimore who are enrolled in school and have passing grades. But it’s more than a city clean up program, these youth have the opportunity to “improve themselves while cleaning up the city” as the city’s non-profit partner also offers vocational training, financial literacy, and tutoring. As Amari Evans, a teenager who started working with the program when he was just eight years old, explained to the news station:
“‘It helps me get up in the morning…’ [and] goes beyond picking up trash on city streets. It’s about getting kids prepared for the world, for long-term jobs and college… ‘You can get paid for things you want [and]... it also helps with future job applications.”
