 host today, Martha Teeter, on In the Studio. And today, our topic is a new program that started in April 2017 called Pathways to Employment. And my guests today are Bill Pride, who's the executive director of Davis Community Meals and Housing, and Julie Jenkins, who is an employee of the new program. Welcome to In the Studio. Thank you. I'm so glad you could be here today. So Bill, will you tell me a little bit about this program, Pathways to Employment? Well, Pathways to Employment is our newest program. It started in the planning stages about April of 2016. It was a collaboration of the city of Davis, the county of Yolo, local service-based organizations, faith-based organizations, Chamber of Commerce, and other folks and individuals in the community who wanted to provide a program to provide employment to homeless and low-income individuals. And we've been involved in the planning since it began, and we officially hired staff, program employees as of April, and they've been working on the streets of Davis since. So Davis Community Meals is then contracting with these other... We're the operators, basically. You're the operator, she's running a program. Running a program, yes. And what kinds of things are they doing? Well, initially, we started off with folks doing beautification of the downtown area. I mean, they've already done one round of cleaning of the blocks that we've identified as the downtown area. We're hoping, we're gonna be starting a second round, we just hired some new employees the last few days, three new employees, and we're gonna start redoing the whole downtown again. We're hoping to expand the program in the immediate future to other opportunities for folks, whether it's working with some of the downtown businesses providing us with other employment opportunities or volunteer opportunities, or other employers in the Davis area. So I know right now, we've actually talked to the city about doing graffiti abatement. That's probably something we're gonna be doing in some portion of town at some point. And hopefully from there, it's gonna expand to other opportunities. I see, I see. So tell me about the intent of the program. Is it actually to have them have a regular job, or is it kind of a stepping stone? It's a stepping stone program. It's certainly not, it's not full-time employment. It's generally about 10 to 12 hours a week. It's giving folks an opportunity to get back in the workforce. Many folks who've been homeless for a long period of time have not been employed for a lengthy period of time. It's an opportunity for them to become a little more self-sufficient than where they're at, learn some job skills, better socialization on the job, get motivated to find different jobs. And hopefully through contacts we'll make through merchants and other businesses in downtown in Davis, we'll open up some job opportunities for the folks. So it kind of provides a hand up to a step up to more permanence. It's a step up for folks. We've already had one gentleman move on from the program into a permanent job. Wow, really? And so we've had some success already and we're hoping to have more as the coming months come up. That's excellent. So you mentioned beautification. I think we have a couple of slides of some people actually working out in the community. I think you're in one of them, Julie. So this is, I think out on D Street, where they're cleaning up some dried weeds, it looks like, and taking them away. And then we have another picture where looks like it's all pretty clean there. That's really great. So that's you there out on the street. Yeah, yeah, great. So tell me a little bit about your participation in the program. What it's meant to you, that kind of thing? Well, I participated in New Pathways, which brought a 20-year-old chronic with homeless persons out of the street into a home. It gave me hope that I could actually become a working part of society again. I wrote that I'd like to pay my taxes and be a part of my community. And I feel I am a part of this community, even though I was homeless before 20 years. Okay, being homeless was very difficult, but when you have a roof over your head and people there showing you the way, you can become a part of our world again. Reintegrating the homeless back into our workforce is a very important thing. Wow, yeah. Because we get out there and all we can do is survive. And everybody's kicking you, everybody. And then nobody giving you a shot at anything. I don't care how nice you look, how hard you drive, the minute they find you're homeless they fire you. Wow. Just like that. So being back at home gave me the hope and the courage to be able to reintegrate back into the world. And that means very much to me, a lot. Because I've been a nobody for 20 years, they say. To be a part of my community again is makes me feel worth something, you know? I mean, worth it. Because they certainly make us, police won't defend us. They won't help us. But if you live inside, they help you. And now you're living inside? Oh, yeah, I have a nice apartment. Okay. I have a nice job. Fantastic. I have a lot of hope. Yeah. That's what they saw, a lot of hope that with the world it's going to change. They are going to help us. Right. And Bill Pride and Becky have done wonders. And you know why? Because they treat us like adults. Mm-hmm. And they trust us. That really makes a difference. And we never betrayed any problem with that. Mm-hmm. And reintegrating us back into the workforce is important because everyone should pull the wrong way. Yeah. Working is important. When I work, I feel like I'm accomplishing something. Like I have a life. Mm-hmm. Being homeless, I had no life I could only survive. Being an animal on the street. Wow. Being treated like an animal on the street. Okay, so it's really important what they're doing. And it does work. It really does. So you mentioned if they find you're homeless, you get fired, but when you have a job, it makes you feel better about yourself. Like you're pulling your own weight. Of course. Oh yeah. But you can't get there if there's a barrier. If they won't give you a chance. Yeah. The police won't, they don't serve and protect us. They kick us. They won't help us. That's not good. But Bill Pride has put his foot forward on that. Yeah. And helped us. Excellent. And I believe this program will work. Yeah. And it's because he treats us like people. Mm-hmm. Not like animals. That's great, that's great. Now you mentioned the new pathways program. Bill, can you tell us a little bit about that program? Well, new pathways is considered to be a housing first, harm reduction type model program. It's a small program we operate now for about a year and a half or so. Open in February of 2016. It's a small program providing housing to four folks. And they're living in a small home in Davis and we're providing them wrap-around case management services. Okay. And lots of opportunities to become housed and become self-sufficient. And it requires them to get, obligates them to be eligible for the housing choice voucher program. So hopefully that'll make it easier for them to move into housing in the short term. And you were a graduate of that program. Oh yeah. And I live in a really nice place. That's great. I'm very lucky. Really, I'm very blessed. And I appreciate every bit of everything they've done. Yeah. Wonderful, wonderful. So we had talked, you mentioned a little bit about other kinds of jobs because getting out there, well particularly in this heat and getting out every day, it's kind of really very physical work. So other job opportunities I think might help. And I understand you're hoping to invite the businesses. We're gonna be reaching out to local businesses, and merchants, and employers, and Davis in the next month or so. And trying to find more volunteer opportunities for our Pathways Employment staff. And also hopefully having some folks step forward to offer some permanent employment to some folks. I mean, it's always surprising to find out how many folks that have been homeless for periods of time actually have job skills that they can use, whether it's construction, whether it's landscaping. It's a real variety of folks. And so they all come from all kinds of educations and backgrounds. And it'd be great to have them be able to find a way to get into jobs where they've already had training. And if not, then hopefully some jobs that they can perform in and perform well in. Yeah, good. So it'll be good to have a variety of not just everybody out on the street every day. But boy, those streets need it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and it really helps. Now I understand that at the city council, they made beautification of downtown a priority. So this, in fact, program fits right in. Oh yeah, and the priority. The business is downtown. We're cleaning the other blocks, the hot dog always comes out and he says, hey, he is a hot dog. And then he says, thank you so very much. They come out, they appreciate us being there. Oh, that's wonderful. They care about it, you know? That's really wonderful. Yeah. Yeah, so there is a website that tells a little bit more details about the program. I believe there was an article in the enterprise. And so people can go to that website, employment.pathways.org. And I believe there's a section where they can get more involved. Yes, we have opportunities for people to donate. If they have projects they'd like our folks to kind of work on, we can talk about that. And like I said, hopefully we'll get more of the community involved to provide employment opportunities for many of the folks we have in our program. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So they could donate money and there's a list of items they could donate. There's items we need, there's certainly dollars would be a great help, donations, you know, so I mean, it's a wide variety of ways for folks to get involved and help out. Right. And I understand, I'm sorry. They could come out and stream talks with. Yeah. And they see who we are. Yeah. And I guess some of the businesses are doing it. Oh, yeah, we've had a couple extra jobs, you know, on weekends and things like that. They come out and talk to us and they're all open-hearted people. They are. Davis is a wonderful place. Oh, that's great. And I think probably the person-to-person contact is really important. It is. Because then they see who you are. You know, who you are. Which counts. Right, right. That's really great. Yeah, and so as I understand in the program, there might be different kind of opportunities. Like I understand that you've just been made a lead worker. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, I'm crew leader, yeah. Yeah, so. That's wonderful. Yeah, it made me so happy to be there. Yeah. I felt so good about giving promotion and a raise. It was sickle-pink, okay? That's great. I was really happy. That's great, yeah. And maybe at later stages, other kinds of supervisory skills. It's good to get involved in supervising other folks. Learning how a work environment works with other folks and kind of dealing with all the issues that kind of come up. And it's certainly good to have Julie here who's been a wonderful success in our programs. And performs with other folks. It has a great direction of life. Yeah, that's really great. Yeah, well, we're honored to have you here on the studio. And it sounds like there's a mutual appreciation. Oh, yeah. You very much appreciate what this program has done for you and all the people at Davis Community Meals. That's so much for me. And Bill appreciates you. And well, we appreciate you very much coming in, both of you. And I hope that people feel like now they can have a sense of what they could do here to help solve this problem in a very constructive way. So we wanna thank you for joining us today. And we hope you will go to the website and learn a little bit more about it. And I think there will be updates, including this very show on that website very soon. And find other ways where you can be involved in helping out with homeless issues. So thank you so much for coming today. Thank you, Martha. And thank you for joining us on In the Studio.