DISCOURSE
there ’ s a lot of depression going on . That depression has created a lot of fear and anxiety and abuse , unfortunately . So that ’ s where the focus is right now . I don ’ t think there ’ s enough mental health solutions in the world right now to tackle what everyone ’ s going through , especially our homeless population .
In terms of what our children need right now … they need education . They need to go back to school . If you look at a homeless child who might be living along the river in a tent or finding just different places to live day by day , and when they have a school to go to , that ’ s a place for them to be . That ’ s a place for them to have lunch . It ’ s a place for them to have other trusted adults in their life . It ’ s a place for them to escape violence . It ’ s a place for them to escape ( drugs ) and alcohol and abuse . We don ’ t have that now . We ’ re doing homeschooling , and our kids , because they are at the shelter , they do have a place to go . We ’ ve created a classroom environment for them .
One of the primary goals of Saint John ’ s is to transition women from being homeless to having jobs in the workforce . How has this been impacted by COVID-19 with more unemployment and fewer jobs ?
Our major vocational training program is Plates Cafe ( and Plates Midtown ); it ’ s a restaurant ( program with two locations in Sacramento ; both closed due to the coronavirus pandemic ). … So we have shifted our vocational training to our catering platform . The women are still learning the same vocational skills in a way , but they ’ re missing that customer-service interface because they ’ re mostly doing catering projects .
The other way it ’ s affected them is some of the folks got laid off right away .
After we train them through vocational training , we help them seek job opportunities outside of the organization for a full-time job so that they can earn a livable wage and move out of Saint John ’ s and get their own housing . Some of them lost their jobs because they were laid off or the businesses closed or there was a workforce reduction . That brought them back on the campus and needing to search for another job , and the job search is just a little bit slower now . There are still many success stories with our women finding positions , but it ’ s also a little bit harder than it used to be .
What is the role of private industry when it comes to addressing the issue of homelessness ?
One , of course , is making contributions and prioritizing their contributions toward supporting programs like ours ,
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26 comstocksmag . com | November 2020