Jobs Plus Pilot Program Improves Jobs, Income and Self-Sufficiency

HUD Awards $2.7 Million to Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency

It was a full house event. Vital services to improve the public housing residents' quality of life will be available under one roof. Representatives from several agencies attended the opening ceremony. Among the entities joining are Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Alabama, Community Action Partnership Stepping Stone Inc., Wellstone Behavioral Health, and 4Sight Inc.

In an effort to help low-income residents find higher paying jobs, HUD Nashville Field Office Director Sernorma Mitchell announced on December 17, 2015 a $2.7 million grant award to the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) to help residents increase their earned income and become self-sufficient. This funding is part of $24.3 million awarded nationally. Read more about the Job Plus grants.

"We have to connect our city's younger people to hope, and this HUD grant will help us do that," said Nashville Mayor Megan Barry at the presentation ceremony. "The grant awarded to MDHA and its partners will provide finance classes and job training to residents of Napier Place and Sudekum Apartment residents."

HUD's Jobs Plus Pilot Program supports work readiness and connects public housing residents with employment, education and financial empowerment services--a proven model to assist public housing residents find and keep better paying jobs.

Also, it links the housing authority system with new rent rules that make work pay, and neighbor-to-neighbor outreaching--demonstrating how cross-agency partnerships make a difference in the economic prospects of public housing residents. These grants will employ several principles of the Administration's Job Driven training checklist (https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/skills_report.pdf) to ensure that public housing residents are connected to a program that is using evidence-based practices that work for job seekers and employers.

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