FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2010

St. Patrick Center clients are getting jobs and starting small businesses in a city with high African-American unemployment rates. Missouri’s largest provider of homeless services announced today that the agency’s employment programs are offering productive solutions to out-of-work clients.

“74 of this year’s 100 GO! Green graduates are now working, 49 of them in green industry jobs,” says St. Patrick Center CEO Dan Buck. Green jobs include horticulture and landscaping; institutional recycling; weatherization and energy audits; and biofuels production.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22.1 percent of the St. Louis region’s African-American men were out of a job in 2009. For all African-Americans, the 2009 unemployment rate was 18.4 percent. The St. Louis area’s overall rate was 10.5 percent. Nationally, July 2010 unemployment was 15.6 percent for African-Americans and 9.5 percent for the general population.

St. Patrick Center held another graduation late last month for 13 clients who completed the agency’s GO! Green City Seeds Urban Farm program. The employment program is ten weeks of intensive on-the-job training in green horticulture. In partnership with Gateway Greening, clients are prepared for jobs in landscaping, nurseries, gardening retailers and other green-care jobs. To date, GO! Green City Seeds Urban Farm has 44 graduates and 28 of them are working (93% African-American), according to Shawn Thomason, GO! Green job developer.

Also last month, 17 St. Patrick Center GO! Green clients completed training in institutional recycling techniques and practices. The training was conducted by Replenishing the Earth, one of the new companies in the agency’s BEGIN New Venture Center (BNVC) small business incubator. Thomason reports that 16 of those clients (81% African-American) were recently hired by Regency Enterprise Services for recycling jobs at the Edward Jones Dome and America’s Center.

“Not only are we providing our clients with employment and training programs that lead to jobs, we are also providing entrepreneurs with opportunities to turn their ideas into new small businesses,” adds Buck. “Of the companies now incubating in our BEGIN New Venture Center, 71 percent are minority-owned and 88 percent are female-owned.” The BNVC is the first-in-the-nation incubator located in a homeless services agency, offering start-up and early stage companies daily business assistance and professional guidance.

On the horizon is a new GO! Green employment program for homeless veterans. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor Veterans Workforce Investment Program (VWIP), St. Patrick Center veteran clients will receive support services provided through a case management approach that networks with federal, state and local resources.

Ending homelessness is a priority of President Barack Obama and his administration. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) in June 2010 unveiled Opening Doors, a comprehensive plan to prevent and end homelessness (available at www.usich.gov).

“Veterans should never find themselves on the streets, living without care and without hope,” said President Obama. “The previous administration began the work to end chronic homelessness. Now is the time to challenge our nation to end homelessness across all populations – including families, youth, children and veterans.”

Mission of St. Patrick Center:
St. Patrick Center provides opportunities for self-sufficiency and dignity to persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Individuals achieve permanent, positive changes in their lives through affordable housing, sound mental health, employment and financial stability.

FOR MORE INFO:
Kelly Peach
Senior Director of Communications
St. Patrick Center
Direct line 314.802.0687
Cell 314.581.7126
kpeach@stpatrickcenter.org

Stephanie Rea
Writer/Producer
St. Patrick Center
Direct line 314.802.1968
Cell 314.853.8886
srea@stpatrickcenter.org 

www.stpatrickcenter.org

1. Tonya Y Paul

   September 8, 2010 at 5:13 pm

   Hello
   My situation really fits your program. I am interested in the programs you are offering there. If someone could please give me a call at 314-780-3089 to set up a face-to-face interview or meeting, I would really appreciate that. Thank You Very Much
2. srea

   September 9, 2010 at 3:46 pm

   Thank you for your interest in St. Patrick Center. Please call 314-802-0700 to be directed to our employment department. They will be able to give you more information on how you can enroll in one of our employment programs.