The $300,000 grant from the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation will link agencies around the region to provide training and aid to 76 families toward stable employment.
HOLYOKE — A coalition of private and public agencies and officials gathered at Holyoke Community College on Tuesday to praise a $300,000 grant from the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation under a pilot program aimed at connecting homeless families to training and employment to help get them into permanent housing.
The grant will aid the Secure Jobs Connect program, working with 76 families over a one-year period to help them obtain employment through an approach that integrates training, community service, work experience, child care and transportation needs, organizers said.
“We are thrilled to participate in this exciting opportunity to demonstrate how homeless families can become housing stable with stable employment,” said Pamela Schwartz, director of the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness. “We have a model that is already on its way to proving successful.”
Aaron Gornstein, undersecretary of the state Department of Housing and Community Development, said that an ongoing private-public partnership is already showing success in dealing with homelessness. The number of homeless families in motels and hotels has declined by 45 percent since July 31, in Massachusetts, dropping from 513 families on July 31, to 283 families as of March 1, Gornstein said.
The Corporation for Public Management is the lead employment and training agency for the foundation-funded pilot program, and is joined by various public and private sector organizations including CareerPoint, ServiceNet, regional housing authorities, regional employment boards, community colleges, business and child care providers across Western Massachusetts.
This story will be updated later today on MassLive.com; the complete story will be published on Wednesday in The Republican.