Pueblo weighing job program that would pay homeless to clean up trash
Unhoused Puebloans may soon get a chance to earn a wage while helping city staff clean up different parts of town.
Pueblo City Council in the coming weeks is expected to vote on a subrecipient agreement between the city and Catholic Charities of Southern Colorado. The agreement would grant $200,000 to the nonprofit to cover operational and other costs associated with a job readiness program for Pueblo’s unhoused.
As part of the agreement, Catholic Charities would recruit people who are homeless to help city staff and volunteers during cleanup projects around Pueblo. The purpose of the program is to “provide support and job readiness services that may lead to employment for people experiencing homelessness,” the agreement states.
Program participants would earn a $50 daily stipend before earning a wage if they complete a certain amount of volunteer hours. Those wages would be $14.42 in 2024 and $15.69 in 2025. They would be paid through the nonprofit’s payroll.
Participants would be employed in the program for a maximum of 12 weeks, during which time they'd be required to search and apply for regular employment opportunities.
The nonprofit would help with that search and provide other assistance, such as transportation vouchers, food assistance, shoes, clothing, and interview attire to participants, according to the agreement.
The contract also states that Catholic Charities would engage at least 30 people in the program, with the goal of retaining around 20 of them in the first year. The nonprofit would provide quarterly program reports to the city.
The partnership between Catholic Charities and the city would be the latest effort by the latter to assist the unhoused and also address a long-standing complaint of some residents — excessive trash and debris in certain sections of the city.
In 2022, the city used $1 million from its American Rescue Plan Act funds to start its Team Up to Clean Up program. Since then, the team has removed hundreds of tons of trash in different parts of Pueblo, some of which were strewn with thousands of shopping carts, tires and other debris.
The city hired qualified candidates as part of Team Up to Clean Up and at times floated the idea of adopting another program that could help Pueblo’s unhoused and achieve the city’s goal of cleaning up parts of Pueblo.
Cities in other states have adopted similar programs for unhoused individuals.
In Seattle, a job training program is helping the unhoused to obtain skills to enter trade careers. Some women in Sacramento obtained housing, found jobs and went back to school after graduating from a nine-week job readiness program, KCRA reported.
Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Unhoused people in Pueblo may be able to earn money to clean up trash
