2023 Down South Restorative Justice Conference
Ending Homelessness Through Job First: A Restorative Approach
The “All In Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness” is an initiative from the Biden-Harris administration to end homelessness and combat systemic racism by 2025. This includes having access to the income and resources needed for stability. Friendship Place embraces a combined model of Job First and harm reduction as an agency response to support returning citizens and other excluded groups. Job First focuses on housing people regardless of their barriers, and harm reduction meets them where they are and supports employment. Our restorative practices are based on a holistic approach that honors a person's humanity. In this workshop, we put forth an organizational skills-based perspective that often involves unorthodox methods to assist individuals in their day-to-day living. Testimonies from our program participants are shared, and promotion of community wide service delivery is offered to engage our consumers and collaborate with potential employers. We will share our experiences working with people experiencing homelessness from our employment assistance program, AimHire.
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Jean-Michel Giraud has worked in a variety of community-based settings including intellectual disabilities, autism, mental health, dual recovery and homeless services. During his tenure as President and CEO of Friendship Place, the organization has grown from a neighborhood association into a regional homeless services provider with a national reach through best-practices, one of which is harm reduction.
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