Employees with Atlantic City Public Works' Building Maintenance Division clean City Hall's lobby.
Atlantic City is giving the homeless jobs as part of a new initiative.
The Hope Work program through the Homeless Outreach Unit is employing 10 individuals it encountered through daily homeless sweeps.
The new employees are working 15-hour weeks — five hours a day, three days a week — in the Public Works Department's Beach and Boardwalk, Sanitation, and Building Maintenance divisions.
They earn $75 a day with money from the city’s Opioid Settlement funds.
“When we formed our Boardwalk Improvement Group, we also created an entire outreach team to help address homelessness in the great city of Atlantic City, something that was a concern in Atlantic City long before I became mayor,” Mayor Marty Small said. “The Small administration has daily conversations on ways we can tackle homelessness, and we expect the Hope Work Initiative to be one of many impactful solutions that will make a positive difference.”
Jason McCracken is working with Atlantic City Department of Public Works Sanitation Division as part of the city's new Hope Work Initiative.The unit works under the city's Department of Health and Human Services.
“Our Homeless Outreach team is out there every single day trying to clean up the City and offer assistance to the homeless individuals we encounter,” Health and Human Services Director Jarrod Barnes said. “It’s nice to see that hard work pay off by not only getting these individuals off the streets, but helping them take that all important first step in bettering their lives.”
The city's social worker, Anthony Woodard, oversees the program.
“The homeless individuals we come across on the streets or on the Boardwalk have been through some hard times, and we are offering them the chance to get their lives back on track through the Hope Work Initiative,” Woodard said. “It’s not that these homeless individuals do not want to work, they just can’t seem to get their foot in the door, so we are giving them that opportunity.”
Upon successful completion of the 10-week program, the city will strongly consider hiring the participants in the Hope Work Initiative to permanent city jobs. The city also hopes to expand the program in the future.
