Work Works America

I have an unwavering belief homelessness can be solved. For too long, efforts have been focused on a small subset of the homeless population. Homelessness is a visible manifestation of our country’s  lack of investment in human capital and systemic racism. We can and must do better to create dignity, opportunity, and hope for the more than 550,000 people experiencing homelessness every night in America. 

Work Works, the model I co-created, is an innovative employment-based approach that targets adults experiencing homelessness who cycle in and out shelter and incarceration and are unemployed. These people do not qualify for housing vouchers or benefits. 

Work Works has the potential to save lives and develop untapped human potential by moving hundreds of thousands of people off the streets and out of prisons while saving hundreds of millions of dollars and building racial equity in America. 

The Elevate Prize will help position the Work Works America initiative to go national.  We will seize the moment to influence policy, scale Work Works expertise through a training institute, channel the voices of those with lived experience, and launch an affiliate network to make the Work Works approach a tool every city can leverage. 

I come from privilege. I have dedicated my career to bridging the divide between the society I have benefited from and people living in poverty. I run on-the-ground programs, I am a thought leader, I operate social enterprises that create jobs for marginalized people, I develop creative housing resources, and, perhaps most importantly, I amplify the voices and talents of those who know the issues best – people with lived experience.

I worked for 10 years in NYC and 10 years in Colorado, developing the Work Works model. With that experience I am now ready to launch Work Works America. With my talented team, we will take Work Works national through a strategic combination of advocacy, policy reform, and training. Cities are seeking immediate, innovative solutions to address street homelessness, reduce the impacts of incarceration, achieve racial justice and prevent recidivism.

The Work Works approach provides a solution to these challenges and I can teach them how.

My vision is to leverage my ability to work in diverse regions, to develop leaders with lived experience, and to take a pragmatic, effective approach to achieve impact by growing Work Works to reach 100 cities in America by 2026. 

In America, since the 1980s the move to a service economy, drug epidemics, racially-driven criminal justice policies, and the loss of affordable housing have resulted in an epidemic of street homelessness and mass incarceration. This doesn't just affect those populations, it hurts everyone. 

The un- and under-employment of people who have experienced incarceration leads to a loss of 1.7-1.9 million workers and between $78-$87 billion in GDP per year.  Of the more than 550,000 people experiencing homelessness, an estimated 78% are jobless or underemployed. 

Work Works America is founded to share a holistic solution including immediate access to paid work in social enterprise, transitional housing and supportive services as a bridge to mainstream employment and independent housing. 

This model is the missing piece in local continuums of care, fundamental to reach people in need of work, especially the disproportionate number of people of color with histories of incarceration, who experience homelessness each year. 

Founded in NYC, The Doe Fund’s Ready, Willing & Able has helped 28,000 individuals reducing recidivism by 62%. Seven communities have adopted the model, including the Ready to Work program I founded in Colorado. Yet, until now, Work Works has not had a comprehensive scaling strategy.

Work Works is at the center of four of the most pressing issues of our time – rising homelessness, massive rates of incarceration, record unemployment, and racial inequity. We have a roadmap and tools appealing to bipartisan sensibilities that all communities can adopt. 

We can’t prosper without alleviating the stark disparities manifested on our streets and in our prisons. New models to build affordable housing, create jobs, reform the criminal justice system and invest in health care are needed. Our 3 part strategy to build a movement, create a training institute and launch an affiliate network will disrupt the status quo.

The link between employment and homelessness has been grossly ignored. Work Works acts as a pathway—a bridge to reach, prepare, support and stabilize people so that they may participate. This has a massive return on investment both socially and financially. 

Work Works is innovative because it is bold, holistic and practical. It is a model that can be mobilized quickly and effectively and benefits numerous stakeholders. Because our cost-effective model leverages earned revenue in social enterprise and combines housing with supportive services, Work Works better deploys taxpayer funds than traditional homeless services. 

For a human being there is nothing more devastating than the trauma of not only becoming homeless but experiencing homelessness. With upstream investments  in education, housing and jobs the myriad factors  that lead to homelessness are avoidable. Immediately, the pathway out of homelessness comes when communities invest in actionable solutions.

Work Works’ impact on humanity is to proactively and effectively provide mainstream jobs and housing for people to care for themselves.

We are building a movement. Our team, including leaders with lived experienced, are showcasing the benefits Work Works brings- influencing policy so communities have the resources to launch and operate the model.

Work Works America will offer a Training Center and Affiliate Network. We teach communities the specifics - how to convert commercial properties into housing; how to launch social enterprises for local demand. 

Solving homelessness for one person change the trajectory of an entire family. Broadly providing a community with the tools to solve homelessness at scale, makes impact exponential. We teaches communities how to add the missing piece - the Work Works employment-based solution -  to go beyond traditional solutions in order to impact more people and, therefore, break the cycle for generations to come.