As has been seen in research and studies, a lot of homeless people end up suffering from mental illness. We provide homeless individuals with access to a therapy session once a week. The program will employ a resident licensed therapist. By the time they finish with the program they can be in a stable mental state to start work and sustain themselves.
Most homeless people are in that situation because of economic circumstances or even failure to manage their finances. Weinberger, D. (1999), proposes that “homelessness is largely about poverty”, as well as the economy and someone’s financial situation. We believe in a permanent solution to end homelessness. As such, the program provides financial management training. This will help individuals to be wise with their earnings when they start working. The program also teaches them basic budgeting skills and tax fundamentals.
As this program seeks to provide a permanent solution and an ability for those experiencing homelessness to be gainfully employed over a longer period of time, those who do not have high school diplomas will get free GED tutoring. They will be encouraged and supported to complete GED exams and enroll in colleges and other technical/vocational training institutions. We believe this will give better skills and opportunities to earn more income and be more stable. The GED program will mainly target unaccompanied youths and other young people. Other age groups are free to participate.
This will be hands on as they do farm chores, raise farm animals, sell goods, market products, and cook. We believe that this practical approach over several weeks will get formerly homeless people back into a structured work routine, work etiquette, and work culture that they will need at their jobs. While they are going through the work training, we will network with companies that will hire the previously homeless people so that they can get jobs as soon as the program is complete.
After the person completes the program and moves into employment and into their new homes, we will provide them with post program support and mentoring. This includes linking the formerly homeless people with initiatives such as food banks, child care and other social welfare based programs. A key post program service we will provide is transportation assistance to help the person to get to and from work.
