PROVIDENCE – The federal government has allotted Rhode Island housing authorities $137,735 to hire staff that will provide job training, child care, counseling, transportation and job placement services to low-income residents.
The funding is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program and will go to authorities in Coventry, East Greenwich, East Providence, North Providence and Warwick.
“I am pleased these communities are receiving additional federal funding to help more Rhode Islanders in need get job training and work toward greater financial independence,” said U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Banking Committee, which oversees federal housing policy. “The work these program coordinators do is invaluable. The educational, employment and life-training skills they provide will help more Rhode Islanders live independently.”
East Providence will receive $24,470; East Greenwich, $25,645; Coventry, $51,571; North Providence, $21,020; and Warwick, $15,529.
It is the second round of funding this year; previously Rhode Island received $580,000.
Participants in the Family Self-Sufficiency Program sign a contract requiring the head of the household to get a job and the family to end welfare assistance in five years. A portion of the family’s income, once it increases, is placed in an interest-bearing escrow account. If the family completes its FSS contract, the funds are released to them.
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This is an absurdly small amount of money given the size of the problem – and the long list of things it is meant to accomplish. It would have been better to award all of this to one or at most two communities.