Jobs Plus Initiative First Monthly Meeting

The Jobs Plus Initiative Team and the RHA Community Partners met today to discuss the initial action plan. The meeting was designed to learn how we can ‘all come together to help support and uplift the housing authority residents.’ The HUD Initiative is specifically designed to help folks living in public housing increase their levels of employment and earnings.

THREE KEY COMPONENTS OF THE JOBS PLUS INITIATIVE

The first of many meetings surrounding the Jobs Plus Initiative and its partners was an immense success. Everyone got to meet each other and participate in a comprehensive overview of what the next four years will encompass and the anticipated outcomes. Topics of the meeting included the Initiative’s three components: employment-related services, increasing the earned income disregard, and community wide support of work. These three key components are the backbone of the Jobs Plus Initiative and are the components of a well-rounded program for the RHA residents. Other topics of discussion included how the Jobs Plus team and its partners can work together to cultivate a team of people and businesses with the same goal in mind: To help residents achieve employment, while also creating a greater understanding and insight into financial literacy. Residents will gain empowerment and knowledge of how to move to a higher level of achievement. At its core, Jobs Plus is structured around these three mutually reinforcing components, all of which focus on improving residents’ employment, earnings, and well-being.

ENHANCING THE JOBS PLUS IMPLEMENTATION

The Rockford Housing Authority believes that community partnerships are critical to creating a successful Jobs Plus Initiative in our community, as each partner brings its own area of expertise to the program, and the Initiative requires an array of partners to work with RHA residents who may have multiple needs and barriers to employment. Jobs Plus develops locally-based, job-driven approaches to increase earnings and advance employment outcomes through work readiness, employer linkages, job placement, educational advancement, skills development, and financial literacy for public housing residents. In addition, this place-based program supports economic resilience for residents by incentivizing and enabling employment through income disregards for working families, benefitting the entire community, and keeping a culture of work. RHA looks forward to enhancing the Jobs Plus implementation by working collaboratively with all our community partners.