Diamond Heard was having trouble getting a job while homeless. Then he found out about Hope Work.
Diamond Heard got his identification about 2½ months ago, and started putting in applications everywhere he could.
But despite being "very qualified for restaurant work," no one responded.
Then, a friend told him about a new program in Atlantic City where they were hiring homeless to work three days a week.
"It's wonderful. It's wonderful," Heard smiled as he worked cleaning up along North Georgia Avenue. "This time of year. To get a job any time of the year. I'm so thankful."
Heard, 51, just completed his first week as part of the city's inaugural Hope Work program, which pays 10 people without housing $75 a day out of Opioid Settlement funds (read: no taxpayer dollars) .
Those hired work five hours a day three days a week. The other two days are spent working with the city providers to try to get the six men and four women full-time jobs and help with housing and any issues they may have, including things like health insurance.
That case management includes getting them things like bank accounts, where their new paychecks can go.
"A lot of these individuals, they've had a hard time, so we wanted to provide an opportunity for them to get some kind of assistance," explained Jarrod Barnes, head of Health and Human Services for the city, which oversees the outreach unit. "We're all just a few paychecks away from that same situation."
Many in the media tried to tie the start of the program with a rash of fires that began under the Boardwalk, where homeless were living. But Barnes said this program has been in the works for a year, as the organizers worked to get things together.
The program will last for 10 weeks, at the end of which a new group could start if the program is successful, which is expected.
The interest is there. There are currently 43 people on a waiting list, city social worker Anthony Woodard said.
He also touched on the relationships the city has with outside agencies to help with the multitude of issues the city's homeless face, including co-occurring issues of mental health and drug addiction.
Thomas Taylor cleans up on Georgia Avenue as part of the Hope Work program."It's been seven years since I worked," said Thomas Taylor, who has been living on the streets since he arrived in the city six months ago from Philadelphia.
He's hoping this will give him an opening to full-time work.
Jason McCracken, 38, said he has been battling homeless most of the year, sleeping in various spots throughout the city, and using the beach showers to keep clean.
He currently is living at the Rescue Mission.
Jason McCracken has been living on Atlantic City's streets for most of the year.McCracken wound up getting into trouble after an altercation with an Atlantic City police officer that he said began with a case of mistaken identity. He was given five years' probation.
"So I'm taking this opportunity to give back to the city all while making money, getting my life back on track all while being supervised," he said.
McCracken lauded some of the resources available, especially Jewish Family Services.
While he is happy to have the Hope Work opportunity, he noted it is a collaborative effort.
"You have to put in the work also," he said. "The individual that the city's trying to help has to put forth their effort also in unison, then something can happen.
"They can hand you an opportunity but it's what you do with the opportunity."
