Working A Way Out of Homelessness: Collaborative Program Celebrates Four Years
“I am not homeless anymore!”
Those words came from a client of The Salvation Army Omaha A Way to Work program who was able to get an apartment while in the program.
This collaboration between The Salvation Army and the City of Omaha started in 2019, initially helping six individuals for a 90-day period, during which they worked two days a week in the city parks. Today, eight individuals work with the City of Omaha four days a week over that same 90-day period. Transportation to and from the worksite and lunch during the workday are provided.
A Way to Work focuses on the long-term goal to alleviate homelessness in Omaha and has the backing of the city. Each client has an individual plan and is paired with the program’s case manager. In addition to earning a paycheck, clients learn soft skills such as working as a team, calling in to work if an employee is not going to be able to make it to their shift, or writing and uploading a resume via computer.
Clients are referred through places such as Open Door Mission and Sienna Francis House as well as word-of-mouth from previous clients. Their work varies by season: over the years since the program started, clients have trimmed trees and removed brush, cold-patched holes at Benson Golf Course, and cleaned up city parks.
“I think we’ve painted every trash barrel they have,” said A Way to Work Program Coordinator Maryann Slack.
The result is to place the clients in permanent jobs. In 2022, there was a total of 30 individuals who entered the program, and 17 of them successfully completed it by finding other work through the program. One former client who successfully completed the program now works for the City of Omaha in the same program that once helped him.
“He works with (clients) on their assigned jobs,” Slack said. "To have him giving back to us in this role is beneficial because he can say, ‘I was in your shoes and now I am here.’”
Other clients have obtained work at the U.S. Postal Service, VA Hospital, Mutual of Omaha, Boys Town, and Lozier, among other places.
The ability to work has lifted people in so many ways. Slack said one of the most touching moments came when she went with a client to pay her first month’s rent on an apartment. The client had not been in her own private living space for more than 10 years.
“That’s why I build rapport with (clients),” Slack said. “I’ve never wanted anyone to give up hope on me, so why should I give up hope on other people?”