San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
TRAINING FOR 500+ HOMELESS
$1 million donation empowers nonprofit Lucky Duck Foundation to hone skills for variety of long-term jobs
More than 500 homeless people will learn job skills or get other assistance that could help them becoming self-sufficient under a new initiative launched by the nonprofit Lucky Duck Foundation.
Stephanie Kilkenny, Lucky Duck Foundation co-founder and president, said an anonymous donor’s gift of $1 million created grants for agencies to expand or develop programs that provide onthe-job training with long-term employment goals to help people overcome homelessness.
“Job and training programs will specifically create opportunities for individuals who are motivated to break the cycle of homelessness and transition back into society by expanding their skills and working hard to take advantage of these unique opportunities,” she said in a news release.
The $1 million will be shared by 10 organizations that were selected from a poll of 22 applicants.
The initiative was announced publicly Thursday. Agencies began applying for grants late last year.
Greg Anglea, executive director of Interfaith Community Services, said his Escondido-based nonprofit learned it had received a $100,000 grant in December and received the funds early this year.
The money already helped put five people to work, he said.
Other nonprofits that received funding are the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Dreams for Change, Kitchens for Good, Mcalister Institute, National Alliance on Mental Illness, San Diego Community College District’s Continuing Education program, Second
Chance and the YMCA.
Several training programs and job opportunities are in the culinary field. The Salvation Army will hire homeless people to work in its expanded food-rescue program, Dreams for Change will more than double its employment and training program for its food truck, Kitchens for Good will provide on-the-job culinary and workforce training, and National Alliance on Mental Illness will expands its culinary and community ambassador program.
Catholic Charities received a
grant to hire female workers for its street cleanup and outreach programs in collaboration with the Salvation Army. The women also will be eligible to join the Salvation Army’s food-rescue routes.
Mcalister Institute will reinstate and expand its “Work for Hope” program that provides on-the-job training and completes community projects in partnership with the Chula Vista Police Department and Public Works Department.
The San Diego Community College District’s Continuing Education program will provide specialized services to help students find jobs, and some participants may be eligible for free community college through the district’s Promise program.
The nonprofit Second Chance will hire, house and train homeless people, including some who were formerly incarcerated, and connect them to long-term employment.
The YMCA will help transitional age youths who are
runaways, homeless or at risk of becoming homeless by providing intensive case management, supportive services and subsidized internships.
“This partnership allows us to make a long-term impact on the lives of youth experiencing homelessness,” Nick Devico, program director for YMCA Connections 2020, said in a press release. “By offering a livable wage and helping youth increase the relationships, concrete skills, and emotional well-being necessary to build a career, we are making sure they are set up for employment success long after our program ends.”
Anglea said Interfaith Community Services has a goal of helping 75 people find employment in a variety of areas.
“It’s actually wonderfully broad,” he said in a telephone interview about how the nonprofit will use its grant. “It allows us to make it very person-centered.”
Anglea said that flexibility allows grant money to pay for a variety of things, including bus passes for five people who recently found jobs. Without transportation, they would not have been able to get to work and would have lost their jobs, he said.
Interfaith has worked with adult schools in Escondido and Vista, Miracosta and Palomar colleges, and a local security academy to get clients into job-skills programs. It also has worked with the Carlsbad Service Center, where the grant has paid for staff who provide individual case management to Interfaith clients, he said.
Besides job training, Anglea said, the grant can pay for things such as work boots or tree-cutting equipment for people to work in specific jobs.
The Lucky Duck Foundation also has funded the Alpha Project’s Wheels of Change employment program, which hires homeless people in its bridge shelter to pick up litter from downtown San Diego streets.