Employment & Training
Transitional Employment through Community Improvement
WORK ENTRY PROGRAM
The Green City program provides transitional employment opportunities through community improvement activities such as neighborhood greening, landscaping, event recycling, and graffiti removal. Low-income and homeless individuals are paid an hourly wage, currently $18.93, for up to four months as they strive to rejoin the workforce.
Participants working in the Green City Program are referred through many different channels including SF Human Services Agency, drug and alcohol treatment programs, social service agencies, shelter case managers, and the criminal justice system.
The Green City Program works in conjunction with these agencies to ensure that our participants are receiving the support they need during their transition to economic self-sufficiency.
Job Retention
Project Stay, the placement component of Green City Program, promotes job retention through peer support, while providing ongoing access to program services and networking opportunities.
Participants are encouraged to stay connected to the program, receive assistance with career advancement goals, and have access to the computer lab and Internet. Project Stay significantly increases the likelihood of a successful transition to financial independence.
Employment Readiness
Green City Program participants attend a series of individualized training appointments with an employment counselor as well as participating in daily job search sessions in the computer lab.
Program participants are required to attend weekly employment readiness workshops that include resume writing, interview techniques, job search strategies, and basic computer skills. The Program’s on-the-job training component covers such topics as workplace safety, graffiti abatement, light landscaping, and recycling practices.
Measuring Success
Between the Clean City Partnership Program and the Green Partnership Program we have served over a thousand participants and successfully placed over 90% of its graduates into employment. Approximately 70% of our graduates retain employment for more than a year.
The impact of our programs can be measured not only by the large numbers of graduates placed into employment but also by the number of individuals having participated in paid work experience, computer training, job readiness workshops, and the tangible neighborhood improvements accomplished through the program.
“Clean City helped me to be motivated, to set goals, and to work towards achieving them. Also job skills like punctuality, working well with others and giving 110%.”