St. Joseph the Worker launches new workforce housing, training program in Mesa

Phoenix-based nonprofit St. Joseph the Worker has launched its new Workforce Housing and Training Program.

The 120-day program provides workforce and financial training for two weeks at locations in Mesa and Phoenix. Workforce training helps participants learn a trade, while the financial training helps them learn how to budget their personal finances, especially when it comes to meals.

After the training is done, participants will start work while living the remaining 90 days at SJW’s transitional housing village in Phoenix while working in a job provided by one of the company’s business partners, such as Phoenix House Painting, the company that will be providing training for the program’s inaugural class.

“I am so passionate about sharing my decades of experience in the trade and, more importantly, the life skills necessary to be an excellent team member and build a career,” said Phoenix House Painting owner John Morris. “I’m excited to be a part of a program that not only incorporates a housing component but also emphasizes soft skills like navigating conflict resolution and maintaining professionalism. It truly is a win-win for the individual and the community.”

The project’s funding was possible thanks to a $153,605 grant from the Arizona Housing Coalition.

According to St. Joseph the Worker COO Daren Strunk, the project’s original iteration ran in 2020, and ultimately served to be the genesis for the launch of the workforce housing and training program.

“We’ve been an employment-driven nonprofit since 1988. One of the things we saw back in 2020 was an issue of, ‘OK, I have a job, so how do I start saving up for an apartment?’ So we started the 90-day transitional housing program called workforce villages. Our clients live rent-free but they are required to save 70-80% of their income post-tax in their own bank account,” Strunk said. “They go through budgeting classes, personal finance, food budgeting, meal prep and largely they’re there to save their own money. So when they make an exit they have at least $4,500 to $5,000 in savings for their own apartment using their own money.”

Strunk believes that employment and housing are inherently linked, and that both are needed to survive. The transitional housing provides participants the ability to save up their money while working, since they don’t have to pay rent, while also giving them the opportunity to learn how to manage their finances.

Participants do not get to stay in the transitional housing forever. They get to stay for 90 days and must find their own housing once that period is over. Part of the expectation of the program, as well as a measure for success, is that participants are able to successfully maintain employment and housing in their own apartment for a year.

“It’s all based on employment. So as long as you have a full-time direct-hire job and make at least $17 an hour, that program was created to solve that problem. One of the things we would see though, especially when it came to COVID, inflation and rent acceleration, was that everyone was making $17 an hour,” Strunk said. “That’s our minimum for the program. We stay in their life for a year doing retention checking in on them. One part of success is that you save the money and enter into your own apartment. The second metric of success is that you’re still successfully housed in your own apartment for a year.”

Strunk said that even with a $17/hour floor, it would be hard for participants to make ends meet. It also became a problem when a participant got sick but didn’t have paid time off or had a medical emergency or death of a family member. Any sort of event of that manner can throw a serious wrench into one’s financial budget.

Strunk realized that the program needed more than just transitional housing. He honed in on the possibility of workforce training. Despite the multitude of workforce programs in existence in Arizona, Strunk realized an issue — those programs, which often last multiple weeks, are unpaid.

Eventually, the idea came about to have workforce training not only be free, but also integrated with the transitional housing program. W.H.A.T. participants are trained for a job that is partnered with SJW as they enter the program, which gives them a smooth transition into the workforce for the 90-day period as well as more room for upward mobility.

“So we asked ourselves what we could create that incorporates somebody who’s housing insecure and looking for a career job. How do we incorporate that into one program? That was the problem we were trying to solve,” Strunk said. “...We wanted to create a program that we could train somebody up on in five to seven classroom days and incorporate that into our housing program. Those other programs charge money but don’t pay their participants, but ours is free and you get paid through the work programs.”

A core tenet of the program is to not give a handout but rather a helping hand. Through the W.H.A.T. program’s guidance, the goal is for participants to develop a proper amount of self-sufficiency that lets them survive on their own once the program is over.

“At SJW, our mission is to provide individuals with the tools they need to free themselves from government assistance and achieve self-sufficiency,” said Carrie Masters, CEO at St. Joseph the Worker. “With our new Workforce Housing and Training Program, we are offering a comprehensive solution in one unique program. It provides a career pathway with real earnings growth, a pathway to long-term housing and fills roles our local partners have available to grow their businesses.”

Applications are currently open to individuals 18 and older. Applicants are required to have reliable transportation as well as no open evictions or violent felonies. Those interested in applying for the program can visit https://sjwjobs.org/workforce-villages/.