Working for moms
Homeless get help in finding jobs
It could’ve been a job fair anywhere.
Nervous candidates met with possible employers in buzzing conference rooms. Would-be bosses and potential employees discussed work histories and résumés, hoping for a match.
Except this job fair was in a Brooklyn homeless shelter, and all the job hunters were homeless mothers, 104 of them.
Amid an escalating crisis of homelessness, the city’s largest operator of family shelters, Women in Need, has teamed up with the state Department of Labor and employers to give homeless moms a new shot at good jobs.
In the unique new arrangement, Labor Department staffers are visiting a WIN shelter in East New York once a week to help the women there train for job searching.
Shelter officials invited the state labor people and 18 companies including Amazon, Nike and Momofuku to participate in a job fair on Jan. 31 that drew dozens of homeless mothers looking for work.
“I was really nervous because I’d never been to a job fair before,” said Mayra Garcia, 32, who lives in a WIN shelter in Sheepshead Bay. “But it was a good experience. Everyone was respectful and it was good to see everybody participating.”
Garcia grew up in Canarsie and has lived in a shelter with her two kids since last March, when she was forced to move out of a one-bedroom apartment they shared with six other people in Bushwick.
Complicating matters, the single mother said she lost her last job as a home health aide in December because she was attending a series of hearings and meetings to qualify for a subsidized apartment.
Garcia scored seven interviews at the fair. She’s yet to land a job but is hopeful she can find work as a housekeeper.
“I need to support my kids,” she explained. “I have to save money so I can get an apartment that’s closer to my kids’ school in Williamsburg.”
About 53% of more than 1,400 adult women in New York City WIN shelters have jobs when they arrive, CEO and former City Councilwoman Christine Quinn (above) said.
But many of those residents who are employed are looking for higher-paying jobs and the unemployed are looking hard, she said.
“We know our moms are ready to work,” Quinn said. “But many of these women have come from a lifetime of poverty and may not have the same knowledge about searching for a job.”
WIN’s East New York site has the first-ever Department of Labor office inside a shelter.
Counselors in the office provide on-site workshops once a week and meet with residents one-on-one to provide career counseling and job training.
Some of the workshops have included job search strategies, social media and networking.
“It’s a way to make sure our resources reach people in the community where they really need them,” said Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon.
“We understand how critical a job is a to a person living in these circumstances,” Reardon added.
A number of WIN residents have found jobs through the program, the company’s reps said.
While Garcia’s search continues, she sees homeless women encounter negative stereotyping from some employers.
“Its not our fault we’re in this situation,” she said. “Things happen. But we’re looking for work, for jobs that will provide for us and our children.”