Job Empowerment Program

Here at HRC, we are constantly looking to solve for gaps in service in our community.

The past two years we have noticed a HUGE gap in two areas:

1. Entry-level job experience opportunities in a trauma-informed environment
2. Trash buildup in our local downtown and Oread neighborhoods

So, we started something to address both.

At the beginning of the year, we began offering entry-level job opportunities to people in our community who WANTED to work but were not being offered the OPPORTUNITY due to many of the barriers associated with experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty.

We started with our property and extended outward as individuals gained experience and earned trust. We now spend time every week ensuring the removal of trash from our neighbors’ lawns, downtown parking lots, and in front of every business up and down Mass Street.

We didn’t have funding to do this, but we saw a need and believe at our core that if we serve our community, our community will help us meet our needs.

So far this year, we have provided 500 hours of work!!!

Sober and Nice.

These are the two employment requirements we have for individuals looking to start working. They must be sober from all substances, and they must be exceptionally nice to those they encounter in our community.

This program also has a not-so-secret third goal: to start shifting the perception of homelessness in our community.

There are so many opportunities to look at the crisis of homelessness: people loitering (because they have nowhere to go), sanitation issues (due to lack of trash removal and public restroom access), and mental health struggles (because nothing is regulated in the life of constant crisis).

So generally, the public only has opportunities to see homeless people—but only see the HOMELESS—and miss out on the people experiencing homelessness.

Our hope is to begin shifting this narrative through positive interactions with people making our public spaces cleaner and doing so in a kind way.

1000 hours in 2025!

We pay $10/hr, so in order to hit our goal of 1000 hours in 2025, we need to raise $10,000!

We have to find ways toward common unity despite all of our differences.

We are better together—but in order to find this better, we must find ways of doing life together.

So, we will make the commitment to finding creative and helpful ways to serve our community, but in turn, we need help along the way.

Let’s do this!