Embracing Opportunities

Residents in Glendale’s three rental communities benefit from skills building classes

Residents from Glendale’s three rental communities are learning the life skills needed for self-sufficiency.

Through a federally funded grant, known as the Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) program, the Community Housing Division is providing classes that offer job preparedness training, budgeting, financial management and leadership.

Under the three-year ROSS grant, Glendale receives $250,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to serve the 443 conventional public housing residents in Glendale’s rental communities. The ROSS program offers a comprehensive list of workshops and classes for public housing residents to address specific needs and barriers to successful employment and self-sufficiency. 

“Many times people rely on public housing because they lack the skills to gain full employment,” said Opal Evans, Glendale’s coordinator for the ROSS program.

“This program offers a wide-range of training opportunities from job training, including the job search, resume writing, and interviewing skills; budgeting and credit counseling; to technical skills  in computer technology.”

Currently, the program has provided more than 46 classes onsite and off.  Results from the participants demonstrate the value of the program.

• For 70 percent of the courses scheduled, 100 percent of the residents who registered, attended and completed them. 
• A total of 75 percent, of those who participated, set and met their end goals and objectives for self-sufficiency.
• In a recent survey of ROSS attendees, 75 percent said they felt their leadership skills have improved and 50 percent said they have increased confidence for new experiences and their awareness of additional resources has increased.

The current ROSS program is the second three-year grant awarded to Glendale's Community Housing program and an application was recently submitted for funding for a third grant. 

Other organizations partner with the Community Housing Division to enhance the benefits of the ROSS program and to provide more services to the participants. The partners include:

• Maricopa Community Colleges – GateWay Community College and Phoenix College, provide college competencies/credits at no charge to the participants.
• University of Arizona Cooperative Extension – provide certification programs in leadership, family educational programs (nutrition, etc.).
• Neighborhood Housing Services – provide homeownership and financial literacy training.
• Maricopa Workforce Connection/One Stop Center – provide workforce development support – additional training, transportation, childcare, job fairs, and other resources.
• Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) – provide the JOBS program, transportation, childcare, co-case management, vocational rehabilitation resources, emergency support such as food stamp program and cash assistance.
• MAXIMUS – provide additional JOBS program, job fairs, and support services
• WYSR Academy – provide program development and coordination.

For more information on the ROSS program, contact Elaine Adamczyk at the Community Housing Division at 623-930-3702.