Spring Break
Project Action offers help for homeless
Program helps homeless rehabilitate from drug, alcohol dependencies, find jobs
Theo Hendrickson
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: News
Corvallis is offering a program that gives the homeless a chance to rehabilitate themselves by helping them find jobs and use other resources to better their standard of living.
Project Action, a new program that started in January 2009, offers ways to help the homeless with either receiving a college education or finding work. It gives them the opportunity to retrieve any lost identification, mainly their Oregon Drivers Licenses, State Identification, Social Security cards or birth certificates. All of the clients work with an "advocate," with whom they use four "action-steps" to find out what they want to achieve from their services.
"We ask what their goals are, what they want to accomplish and what they think will help them," Barbara Ross, co-chairperson for Project Action, said.
At the first meeting with their advocates, they go over a list of issues they have, which include "work history, health concerns, current situation and urgent needs." The advocates will evaluate the list and see which goals are within closest range, then work toward them. After the first evaluation, they are required to meet with the advocates two times a week to see how much progress they have made.
The program is a nonprofit organization that receives funding from the Corvallis Daytime Drop-In Center. Funding also enables Project Action to help the homeless with clothing or transportation options from a limited "petty cash fund" used in the most necessary cases. In one instance, a man requested a bus ticket to Ohio in order to see his dying mother for the last time. Project Action has granted that request because it believes that "repairing relationships with family and relatives" is a major goal in building a new life.
"We've been very successful with people controlling their addiction," Ross said.
Most of the clients are known to be clean and sober at the time they come in to receive aid. Project Action works with New Beginnings and the Community Outreach Center to discuss how the clients have been faring with their alcohol and drug problems, mainly concerning the last time they used these substances. The program offers the clients a free packet of 20 single bus tickets to allow them to go to whatever destination is required for them to find a job in Corvallis.
Project Action, a new program that started in January 2009, offers ways to help the homeless with either receiving a college education or finding work. It gives them the opportunity to retrieve any lost identification, mainly their Oregon Drivers Licenses, State Identification, Social Security cards or birth certificates. All of the clients work with an "advocate," with whom they use four "action-steps" to find out what they want to achieve from their services.
"We ask what their goals are, what they want to accomplish and what they think will help them," Barbara Ross, co-chairperson for Project Action, said.
At the first meeting with their advocates, they go over a list of issues they have, which include "work history, health concerns, current situation and urgent needs." The advocates will evaluate the list and see which goals are within closest range, then work toward them. After the first evaluation, they are required to meet with the advocates two times a week to see how much progress they have made.
The program is a nonprofit organization that receives funding from the Corvallis Daytime Drop-In Center. Funding also enables Project Action to help the homeless with clothing or transportation options from a limited "petty cash fund" used in the most necessary cases. In one instance, a man requested a bus ticket to Ohio in order to see his dying mother for the last time. Project Action has granted that request because it believes that "repairing relationships with family and relatives" is a major goal in building a new life.
"We've been very successful with people controlling their addiction," Ross said.
Most of the clients are known to be clean and sober at the time they come in to receive aid. Project Action works with New Beginnings and the Community Outreach Center to discuss how the clients have been faring with their alcohol and drug problems, mainly concerning the last time they used these substances. The program offers the clients a free packet of 20 single bus tickets to allow them to go to whatever destination is required for them to find a job in Corvallis.
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