In a September 2023 interview, Sabrina, who had been in a CSS Hut for about two years, said, “It's been well over 10 years since I've had a job, because my drug habit has caused me to be homeless.” 

It was at that time that Sabrina felt comfortable enough with herself and her community that she started volunteering for CSS.  Her initial volunteer role was helping as a supervisor in the newly introduced orientation community. That was followed by stints cleaning showers, working at the CSS office front desk, and helping on the water route, which involves picking up drinkable water and delivering it to the CSS communities.

A little over a year ago, the nature of her volunteering changed. She became the first participant in CSS’s Workforce Development Program, an effort to turn clients’ volunteer work into more structured preparation for getting paid employment. 

And, earlier this year, Sabrina, now clean from addiction, was the first to graduate from that program after accumulating 162 volunteer hours. Soon after, she completed a three-month paid internship at Food for Lane County (FFLC) and was hired to a half-time paid position on the CSS Maintenance Crew the following week.

“It was pretty cool,” Sabrina says, “being the first one, and the first one to graduate, that I actually got something done.”

In a September 2023 interview, Sabrina, who had been in a CSS Hut for about two years, said, “It's been well over 10 years since I've had a job, because my drug habit has caused me to be homeless.” 

It was at that time that Sabrina felt comfortable enough with herself and her community that she started volunteering for CSS.  Her initial volunteer role was helping as a supervisor in the newly introduced orientation community. That was followed by stints cleaning showers, working at the CSS office front desk, and helping on the water route, which involves picking up drinkable water and delivering it to the CSS communities.

A little over a year ago, the nature of her volunteering changed. She became the first participant in CSS’s Workforce Development Program, an effort to turn clients’ volunteer work into more structured preparation for getting paid employment. 

And, earlier this year, Sabrina, now clean from addiction, was the first to graduate from that program after accumulating 162 volunteer hours. Soon after, she completed a three-month paid internship at Food for Lane County (FFLC) and was hired to a half-time paid position on the CSS Maintenance Crew the following week.

“It was pretty cool,” Sabrina says, “being the first one, and the first one to graduate, that I actually got something done.”

The Workforce Development Program came about when CSS leadership realized that, though client’s volunteering to support communities was a positive thing, “We were missing an opportunity to turn this into job experience,” says Anna, CSS Programs Coordinator, who was coordinator of the Workforce Development Program when it started. By creating a more formal program with goal setting, regular “milestone’’ meetings, and having “someone who is your person to keep checking in with,” CSS could make clients’ work serving the community also lead more directly to a paying job, either outside CSS or, if there is an opening, within.

Clients must be in the CSS community for 90 days before they can apply to be part of the program. Camp facilitators help to identify clients who are ready for it. Will, who took over as coordinator for the workforce program from Anna in January, says the most likely candidates to succeed are “people who are on the cusp of wanting to make a change.”  That certainly was the case with Sabrina, who had been volunteering for a year and a half when she started with the Workforce Development Program, and Gina, who says from the first day she moved into the Bertelsen Community in early spring of 2024, “My number one thing is to stay focused and get myself out of this situation that I got myself into.” After volunteering for the water route (where she “worked my ass off”), CSS food crew, and doing the paid internship with FFLC, she started a full-time job in March with Hope Community Corporation, a St. Vincent de Paul enterprise that builds modular mobile homes for emergency and low-income housing.

All participants have an initial intake meeting with the workforce program coordinator, where they are oriented to the program, informed of expectations, set goals, and discuss which of the working areas where CSS has needs fits them best: maintenance, which involves activities such as the water route, Hut cleanup and repair, or firewood; hospitality (showers, laundry, free clothes distribution); or working at the office front desk. 

Anna says that the initial goal discussion is most often not about big picture life goals but more about addressing immediate steps  to put the client in a better position to get a job, such as working on a resume or getting a bus pass or having a working phone.

For Sam, who has been a member of the Lot 9 Community since August 2023, his goals included getting a driver’s license, applying for the FFLC internship, and exploring CSS work possibilities beyond the work he has done with firewood since he first moved in. Will referred him to CSS service navigators who are helping him get his learner’s permit, the first step toward a driver’s license. He didn’t get the FFLC internship but is already on the list for the next round of interviews. And he plans to pursue the possibility of working at the office front desk to provide a different sort of work experience than he has had in his work with firewood.

All participants also meet monthly with the workforce coordinator.

“It’s a check-in meeting.” Sabrina says, “just to reach out to us and make sure we’re doing OK.” It was at a monthly meeting that Anna encouraged Sabrina to apply for the FFLC internship. During her year in the Workforce Development Program, in addition to her work experience, Sabrina got a new pair of glasses and was cured of Hepatitis C, which she’d had for about 15 years. 

“I feel a lot better,” she says. “I've got energy now, natural energy, which is cool.”

The Eugene Chamber of Commerce is a partner in providing the Food for Lane County paid internships and is working with all shelter providers to explore other partnerships and job possibilities with area businesses. A grant from Lane County Human Services provides funds to help clients remove obstacles to employment like costs for getting a driver’s license. Those funds also helped Gina get the “absolutely essential” tools she needed to do the job she was hired for at Hope Community, such as a tool bag, cordless drill and saw, and tape measures.

Gina, who worked commercial construction in the past, says the work at Hope is tough. She works 40 hours a week, with time pressure because the demand for the modular housing is great. At 52, she works with mostly 19- and 20-year-old men. “They treat me good. I mean they don’t give me shit. If anything, I make them bust their ass because they ain’t going to be showed up by a girl.”