Constructive cleaning
PSW street cleaning crew gains valuable life skills while keeping Porterville beautiful
Every Monday through Friday year round, a group of men head out from the Porterville Sheltered Workshop on West Olive Avenue wearing their bright orange vests and hats and push brooms in hand to pick up trash and clean assigned areas within the City of Porterville.
The crew can be spotted at several locations in Porterville, especially on Main Street, since they make about eight stops daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. around that area.
Steven Ramos has worked for seven years at PSW, taking crews of learners to work out to the street sweeping and cleaning.
“We do different parking lots everyday, some pick up street trash and some sweep,” said Ramos, adding that every day is essentially the same routine, just at different directions. “The goal is to improve themselves so they can work in the community by themselves. We try to teach them responsibility.”
Ramos said they are the mobile walking crew, since they walk to their destinations. They have regular contracts to do all week through the city. One is to clean the Grocery Outlet parking lot, and they also clean some local shops on Main Street three times a week, the Porterville Police Station, and North
Second and North Fourth Streets, where they must clean sidewalks and the parking lots.
“It gives them a responsibility and makes them feel important, plus they are getting paid,” said Ramos. “They come to work every time and on time, normal things that we do.”
At the end of the day the group is taken back to the station. Some go home, and some to their care home.
The members of the crew must further demonstrate they are responsible by paying for their own bills, and some of them even attain a driver’s license.
“When it rains or when it’s super hot we are still out here, it’s a year round job,” said Ramos. “It’s a process, but the goal is to get them to a point in life where they are able to incorporate into our society like any other person.”
Mary Hodges, director of business services at PSW, said the program has helped people who have autism, learning disorders, those on certain types of probation and people who come from special education through high school.
“For them it wasn’t a normal transition after graduation, so they transitioned to a work program or a day program, which then transitions them to a work job,” said Hodges.
In 1956, a small group of parents started PSW with the intentions of finding their special needs kids something to do. In 1993 PSW acquired their first sweeping contract with the City of Porterville, and the contract remains to this day.
On average, approximately 13 clients are taken around town by four staff members, who work with the trainees to help them transition into competitive integrated employment in Porterville.
“PSW is training adults with an intellectual disability to attain social skills while learning work behavior,” said Qursha Clark, client program coordinator. “Trainees teach them skills in case they ever move out of the organization and get a job out in the community.”
PSW has many different programs and are located in eight different facilities in Porterville.
“Our sole mission with PSW is to assist individuals to achieve a more independent and productive life,” said Hodges adding staff at PSW are to provide job training and skills sets for clients who want to progress. “We want to make them as independent and productive as possible. If they want to go work at Target we want to provide them with the skills needed to get there.”
Hodges said it all starts with them, as they are the catalyst to the beginning of their adulthood trying to acquire a job.
“We want people to look at us as folks who are providing self worth,” said Hodges, also stating that they thank the City of Porterville, who has been instrumental and supportive to PSW.
Clark said they have several different supported employment projects like a landscaping crew, a graffiti crew who goes around performing graffiti abatement within the city limits, a mobile crew that goes out and works at the dairies, and others go to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to do janitorial work.
“Our clients are learning
soft skills that people don’t really think about. We teach it to them before getting a job,” said Clark.
One of the challenges PSW clients face is employers being scared to hire a person with special attention, but Hodges and Clark are doing their best to change that.
“It’s a challenge for the consumers that we serve, one because there is a stigma associated with developmental disabilities. People are scared to hire somebody who has a disability,” said Hodges. “It’s a big concern for us as an organization, but we are very excited because we just received a grant from Department of Developmental Services to bring our program into compliance with Home and Community Day Services of $403,100.”
Hodges said with the grant they are going to establish a position that is going to do outreach to community business already do business with, as well as those who don’t do business with currently to try to build new partnerships.
“We want the real world to tell us what their needs are. What do the businesses need to be able to feel comfortable employing our folks? That’s our next step,” said Hodges.