Press Release
For Immediate Release Contact: Sandra Hamameh
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 Office: (916) 455-4900
“Wheels to Work”
Drives to End Homelessness in Sacramento
New program launched this week to provide transportation, mobility training,and employment assistance for the homeless
Sacramento, California — In mid-September, two 14-passenger vans operated by Paratransit Community OutreachAmbassadors kicked off a new program that will provide homeless people with transportation, employmentsearch services, health resources and training about how to use public transit. Paratransit’s Mobility Trainingand Job Search Shuttle Service for the Homeless, more commonly known as, Wheels to Work, is the productof a unique collaboration between Paratransit Inc., Women’s Empowerment, the Sacramento HousingAlliance, Sacramento Steps Forward, the Department of Human Assistance, the California Departmentof Rehabilitation and other homeless and housing service providers. The vans will be used to transporthomeless men and women to job interviews, training programs, access a mobile computer lab, and reachseveral key service sites — without the transportation, they would be unable to perform these most basicactivities to gain steady employment.
The partnership began in 2009 when two passenger shuttle vans were donated from Thunder Valley Casinoto a sub-committee of Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF) that addresses homeless employment issues. The chair of the SSF Homeless Employment Committee and Executive Director of the Sacramento HousingAlliance, Bob Erlenbusch, immediately thought of how the newly acquired vans could be utilized.
“A recent survey of homeless people shows that thirty percent of the responders identified transportationand access to transportation as a significant barrier to employment. We needed to develop a plan todirectly address those barriers. We started by collaborating with our community partners to find realsolutions for change.”
One of those community partners, Paratransit Inc., also recognized the need for employment services andtransportation for homeless people. Linda Deavens, Paratransit’s Chief Executive Officer agreed to takeon the project. After working with the Department of Human Assistance to secure federal Jobs Accessand Reverse Commute (JARC) funding, Paratransit registered, insured, repaired and retrofitted the two vans, adding them to their vehicle fleet.
“We saw an opportunity to become partners in an innovative program that would provide much neededtransportation and employment services to homeless men and women. We pulled together our resourcesand with the help of the Department of Human Assistance we secured federal funding for a year. We got to work with employment service providers and the result is a program that we can all be proud of.”
Formerly Homeless Women Find Work Driving for Paratransit
Wheels to Work not only provides access to employment services and transportation but it also employspeople that were formerly homeless. The program provides “on the job” vehicle operator training to sevenformerly homeless women with various disabilities. The Community Outreach Ambassadors, as they arecalled, are graduates of an 8-week employment skills training program run by Women’s Empowerment.Women’s Empowerment is a non-profit that works with homeless women to help them build the skills they need to go back to work and maintain stable housing. The California Department of Rehabilitationhas also been working in collaboration with Paratransit and Women’s Empowerment to provide vocationalrehabilitation services to the women.
“This program has successfully put seven women back to work,” said Lisa Culp, Executive Director ofWomen’s Empowerment. “It’s a great example of how effective partnerships can lead to successfulemployment outcomes for homeless people.”
The Community Outreach Ambassadors provided input about the route and began to compile resourcesfrom a variety of employment services agencies to include on the vans. They began their vehicle operationstraining in August and by the end of October they will have logged nearly 330 training hours both in classand behind the wheel.
“I’m glad to be involved in something that allows me to give back to the community” said SharnieceMonroe, a Wheels to Work Community Outreach Ambassador. “We understand what people out thereare going through and what they need to take that first step to get out of homelessness. For many, Wheelsto Work will be a bridge to that first step.”
A press conference and light reception to introduce Wheels to Work has been scheduled for October 12th at 10 a.m. at the Volunteers of America Family Center located at 470 Bannon Street.
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Paratransit’s Mobility Training and Job Search Shuttle Service, “Wheels to Work” is a collaborationbetween Paratransit, Women’s Empowerment, Sacramento Steps Forward the Sacramento HousingAlliance, the Department of Human Assistance and the California Department of Rehabilitation. To learnmore visit: www.paratransit.org/wheels-to-work.
Paratransit, Inc.
P.O. Box 231100
Sacramento, CA 95823(916) 429-2009 x 7229
www.paratransit.org/wheels-to-work
