Ready to Work clients will soon be visible maintaining Caltrans property all around the City of Stockton.
On Aug. 21, the City of Stockton awarded RTW a contract to employ our clients — homeless individuals living in San Joaquin County — to help keep local highways and byways beautiful.
Starting in October, our clients will be tasked with the cleaning of Caltrans property around Stockton. They’ll earn at least minimum wage, pay taxes, contribute to Social Security, and start saving money that they can use after they graduate RTW.
Caltrans deserves a huge amount of credit for thinking outside-the-box to address homelessness. The agency’s John Olivia has worked for months with City of Stockton staff to get this program in place, and we’re excited to be the nonprofit partner in an approach that is totally new for our region.
By pairing a source of income and work with support services and transitional housing, we’re ensuring that this program is more than simply a paycheck for a day — it’s helping set the foundation for a potential lifetime of self-sufficiency.
Our crews have already been busy around the county helping clean up in anticipation of this partnership. You might have seen them on Victor Road or at the Grape Bowl in Lodi, beautifying South Stockton’s Taft Community Center, helping at the Bread of Life food bank, or cleaning the edge of Mormon Slough
off Hazelton Avenue.
Now, thanks to the innovation of Caltrans and the support of the Stockton City Council and Mayor Michael Tubbs, our clients will have even more opportunity to earn their way toward long-term employment and permanent housing.
