Virginia Woof has received national recognition from the United States Department of Labor as a best practices program.
Outside In has built a reputation for one thing-providing effective, innovative services that help homeless youth become self-sufficient.
Our newest venture, the Virginia Woof Dog Daycare & Employment Training Program, was built on this reputation. Created as a job training program, Virginia Woof allows youth to receive job training and a placement when they are finished. As the first dog daycare in the country to be used as a training program, Virginia Woof follows Outside In’s tradition of providing innovative programming.
Unemployment impacts homeless youth much more profoundly than their adult equivalents. As you might imagine, employers are reluctant to hire youth with little or no work experience. Virginia Woof provides a training ground where we can provide work experience and a job history before placing them with businesses in the community.
The program builds on the Juma Ventures model, which provides youth jobs in a variety of settings and uses these training experiences to provide a foundation upon which to build assets, gain experience and financial skills and move into jobs in career tracks.
Virginia Woof is the first-and currently the only-program in the nation using this unique approach to workforce development with homeless youth. As experts working with these young people, we knew they would be interested in opportunities where they had a natural interest.
Outside In chose a dog daycare model because of the natural connection youth have with animals. This proves to be a safe and healthy learning environment for teaching basic job skills. For many homeless youth, relationships with pets represent the only safe and affectionate relationships they have experienced.
Youth who find employment on their own generally lose
their job after a few weeks. Moving from life
on the streets to employment is culture shock for homeless young people.
They need on-the-job
training in the “soft skills” of punctuality, reliability,
and working cooperatively to effectively hold a job in
the business world. Virginia Woof is the stepping stone they need to
reach their permanent employment goals. For many homeless youth, Virginia
Woof is their last shot at stability.
Virginia Woof will not only be self-supporting, but it is projected to make a profit that will subsidize other agency community services such as housing, medical care, case management and employment and education programs for homeless youth and low-income adults.
Enrollment in Virginia Woof means not just quality dog daycare, but a way to support the work of Outside In and the efforts of Portland’s homeless youth to turn their lives around.
Other Outside In services include
A Day Program to provide safety off the streets, food, crisis counseling and activities that build skills to promote alternatives to street life.
Case Managers who work one on one with youth to identify strengths and create plans that address physical and mental health, work, housing and educational needs.
An Employment & Education Center that works with youth to increase work readiness, obtain and retain employment and build a positive work history. An education component helps youth obtain a GED and enter college.
Transitional Housing that provides youth with a home as they move toward independent living. Youth must be working on career or educational goals and save a third of their income. One of the most successful housing programs in the nation, 80 percent of youth who go through the transitional housing program never return to the streets.
A Medical Clinic that provides cutting edge multi-disciplinary primary care to homeless youth and low-income individuals lacking health insurance. A coalition of medical doctors, naturopathic doctors, interns, acupuncturists and Chinese herbalists provide thousands of hours of volunteer service each year. Eastern and Western approaches to medicine meet as the naturopathic and allopathic practitioners learn from each other’s disciplines and gain hands-on experience helping people in need.
The Medical Outreach Program which brings medical and health care services directly to the streets. Serving the hardest to reach communities, a medical outreach van delivers preventative and life-enhancing medical services to individuals who do not typically access primary health care.
Risk Education that provides on-street peer outreach, peer education programs for HIV prevention among youth, services for sexual minority youth, theater and art programming as well as other recreation activities.
Syringe Exchange works to prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases among adult drug injectors. Participants receive counseling, safer sex information and supplies, free HIV and Hepatitis C testing, as well as drug treatment and other referrals. Last year, this program kept more than 500,000 used syringes off the streets.
 |
|