The Jobs Plus Initiative program is to develop locally-based, job-driven approaches to increase earnings and advance employment outcomes through work readiness, employer linkages, job placement, educational advancement technology skills, and financial literacy for residents of public housing. The place-based Jobs Plus Initiative program addresses poverty among public housing residents by incentivizing and enabling employment through income disregards for working families, and a set of services designed to support work including employer linkages, job placement and counseling, educational advancement, and financial counseling. Ideally, these incentives will saturate the target developments, building a culture of work and making working families the norm.
The Jobs Plus Initiative program consists of the following three core components:
Employment-related service: Grantees offer employment-related services to residents with a range of employment needs. This includes services such as work-readiness training, employer linkages, financial counseling, educational advancement, job placement, and employment counseling.
Financial incentives:Targeted residents enrolled in Jobs Plus will be granted a 100 percent income disregard that will remain in place for up to 48 months.
Community support for work:Grantees market Jobs Plus services and financial incentives to alltargeted residents in a development. The goal is to saturate communities with work-related messages and to create a culture of work.
Jobs Plus services are tailored to residents’ individual needs and are drawn from a menu of on-site and referral services. For unemployed residents, case managers will help identify short and long-term employment goals and create plans to accomplish them. Employed individuals can work with case managers to take the necessary steps to advance in the labor market.
HOW IT WORKS
EHA will work closely with the resident to assess their current situation including education, skill set, obstacles to employment, among other barriers and help find a job to match their skills. Job placement, work readiness, interview skills, resume assistance, and other help will be available.
Example: A resident’s current rent is $250 per month. They get a job or get promoted and the new rent is calculated at $450 per month. The resident would continue to pay $250/mo and the grant would pay the difference - in this case $200. The resident would save $200 per month for the life of the grant - up to 4 years. The goal would be to pay off bills and increase credit scores to move off of government assistance and potentially purchase a home.
