Today, our Secure Jobs team heads to Washington, D.C. to present our employment program for homeless job seekers to a national audience. Congratulations to the entire Network for making this success possible.

The Springfield Republican covered our journey today.  Click here here to read all about it (or see below).

And special thanks to fellow team travelers:  Lisa Lapierre, Secure Jobs Program Director of Corporation for Public Management, David Gadaire, Executive Director of CareerPoint, Lynne Wallace, Chief Operating Officer of HAPHousing and Phyllis White, Director of Programs of Franklin Hampshire Career Center.

We look forward to bringing back more insight and inspiration for our continued efforts!

From today’s Springfield Republican:

Area advocates for the homeless invited to share success of ‘Secure Jobs’ program at national summit

in May of 2013, Pamela Schwartz, Director for the Western Ma Network to End Homelessness spoke about the newly launched Secure Jobs program (File photo / The Republican)
By Peter Goonan | pgoonan@repub.com
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on October 14, 2014 at 1:10 PM, updated October 14, 2014 at 5:16 PM

Springfield – Area advocates for the homeless have been invited
to a national summit on Thursday to discuss the success

A team of area officials involved in Secure Jobs was invited to join the “Opening Doors Summit” at the U.S. Department of Labor, said Pamela Schwartz, director of the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness.

“We are thrilled to bring our success to Washington, D.C., and share to share it with federal and community partners,” said Lisa Lapierre, program director for Secure Jobs, within a prepared press release. ”We look forward to bringing back new ideas to help create new employment opportunities for the homes population in Western Mass.”

Secure Jobs is a workforce development program serving homeless families and individuals in the region.

In the first year of Secure Jobs, launched in 2013 and initially called Secure Jobs Connect, nearly 100 parents in homeless families entered employment, according to Lapierre. The program involves both private and public funds.

One year after its launch, 84 percent of the participants have remained in their employment and 95 percent have maintained stable housing, Lapierre said.

The Secure Jobs program is designed to integrate training, community service, work experience, child care, and transportation needs, officials said.

Thursday’s summit is sponsored by the Butler Family Fund, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The Western Mass. Secure Jobs program is one of 11 such programs in the country.

The Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness was the convener of the Secure Jobs Advisory Council, which coordinates the workforce development efforts, Schwartz said.

The Secure Jobs program is a joint project of the nonprofit organizations Corporation for Public Management and HAPHousing.

Several officials from participating agencies plan to attend the summit.

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