Post 2 - One-on-one with the Homeless

I learned about welding and bending steel today. Why? How does that help the homeless? Well, there is high demand in Cleveland for new bike racks, and one of the initiatives that the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (that has run the shelter since 2005) is working on is filling that demand.  It is the end product of what I am doing for the residents at the Shelter.  They started by brainstorming ideas – and then developed the idea for bike racks and established how it could create transitional jobs for the homeless.  Not only that, but the program not only teaches job skills needed for other transitional jobs, but promotes job readiness and helps those who were on the streets or incarcerated to once again assimilate into society.

What I do almost every day is talk one on one with the homeless to see what ideas they may have to create similar social enterprises that will be profitable or at least break even while providing job readiness skills to the homeless.  In addition to the bike rack initiative, LMM is also developing an urban garden and a central kitchen to provide quality meals to various locations around the city.  Already I have heard some great ideas from the residents at the shelter that would utilize the residents’ skills such as carpentry to create much needed tables and chairs, construction to fix walls and create work around the city, and taking photographs from the point of view of the homeless and then selling them to generate some sort of income.  All of these ideas I am excited to look into further and I look forward to hearing more ideas from the men in the shelter.