As Project Helping’s Kynd Kit program has grown, so has the need to expand our team. We recognized this as an opportunity to create another point of impact for our community. The first step was to decide who we wanted to serve. Our mission is focused on mental wellness and we started with a goal of tying this new program as closely as possible to this focus.
Given our longstanding relationship with amazing nonprofit partners, we started to seeking out those programs where we could plug in to existing job readiness programs and become an employer where these organizations could place their individuals in need when they were ready for a full time job.
We launched our Transitional Employment Program with the goal of providing stable employment and wrap-around resources to people who have been experiencing homelessness and/or have had substance misuse issue. Mental health challenges are often cooccurring in these individuals and being able to provide them a stable work environment and resources fits seamlessly with our existing mission.
Project Helping works with our nonprofit and community partners who have job readiness programs in place. Individuals who have been through these programs are introduced to Project Helping’s program and given. an opportunity to interview for our full-time positions.
Our first partner for transitional employment placements is Urban Peak, whose miss is “Igniting the potential in youth to exit homelessness and create self-determined, fulfilled lives.”
We also accept placements from Goodwill, along with other community partners and programs.
Our program participants are given a full-time position with Project Helping to help us assemble and ship Kynd Kits. They are given wrap-around resources in addition to their pay. These resources include:
Our program participants will spend approximately 9 month with us as full-time employees. As we approach the end of their time, we work with them to find a permanent, full-time placement that will pay them a living wage, provide benefits, and allow them to be self-sufficient, thriving members of our community.