Book Description
The Jobs-Plus Community Revitalization Initiative for Public Housing Families ("Jobs-Plus") began operating in seven public housing developments around the country in 1998, but its implementation in Seattle?s Rainier Vista development differs significantly from its implementation in other sites. Two factors set Seattle Jobs-Plus apart: First, a year after the Jobs-Plus program began at Rainier Vista, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the Seattle Housing Authority a HOPE VI grant to tear the development down and rebuild it. Jobs-Plus had to adapt to a changing environment, in which residents were relocated and promised assistance with their self-sufficiency needs. Second, Rainier Vista was very diverse, its residents consisting largely of immigrants and refugees who came from a wide range of countries and spoke no fewer than 22 different languages. Given these conditions, Jobs-Plus faced a challenging implementation process at Rainier Vista. This report chronicles the Seattle Jobs-Plus experience as the reconstruction process got under way. It provides a relatively rare profile of an attempt to meet the employment and social service needs that residents confront when a major bricks-and-mortar redevelopment effort causes both temporary and permanent relocation. A subsequent report will present findings on the Seattle Jobs-Plus program's effects on increasing residents' employment and earnings. A final report will discuss the demonstration as a whole and will explain how Seattle and each of the other sites fit into the bigger Jobs-Plus picture. Appended is: Services at Yesler Terrace, the Comparison Site. (Contains 5 tables and 12 figures.) [Dissemination of MDRC publications is also supported by Starr Foundation.].
