Millionair Club Charity: Access to Resources

“I haven’t checked my email in about 6 months!” said Nathan as he entered into the Resource Center for the first time.  Nathan is one of the many clients that the Millionair Club serves on an average day.  As a veteran, he found himself homeless about 10 years ago and has been struggling to get back on track for some time.  Thanks to the veteran assistance programs in Seattle as well as gaining employment skills from the Millionair Club, he is now living in an affordable housing complex town and is starting on the road to self-sufficiency.

After helping Nathan to log into his account again, the inbox count popped up to be above 18,000 new messages! As I helped him go through his mail, together we found many important messages he had received months ago. Many of those emails were time sensitive but Nathan was unable to gain access to a computer.  That’s where the new Resource Center comes in at the Millionair Club.

Being a job referral agency and working towards its clients being self-sufficient, the Millionair Club has recently added a Resource Center for its clients. It provides a total of four computers that access the internet, are installed with Microsoft Office Suite, and will soon have a typing program for people to work on their typing skills.  In today’s world, it is impossible to progress in the job market without computer skills.  Technology has found its way into every profession imaginable and often time if an individual does not have basic knowledge of these skills their opportunity to gain full-time employment is greatly reduced.

With the Resource Center, the Millionair Club hopes to provide an opportunity to their clients to gain access to resources online, partake in computer skill trainings, and interact with community members who are experts in these areas.  I am excited to see how the club develops the Resource Center in the next year to better service clients as they gain more and more skills through their day labor employment.

In addition to Nathan, I had the opportunity to interact with numerous other clients in my three days at the club.  Charles for example used the resource center to apply and search for job opportunities and went to an open interview the same day.  Several clients were able to understand the process of getting a state photo ID so that they could start working.  Another gentleman by the name of Sam (who convinced me to join the military in the next 2 years if I’m not employed) was excited to start learning computer skills so he could navigate job searches for himself.

Sometimes it is as simple as providing resources that the majority of us take for granted to individuals that can help them to advance themselves towards self-sufficiency.  Opportunity and access to resources play a huge role in developing chronic homelessness in today’s society.  If everyone was given the same opportunities or afforded equal resources, then and only then could we blame someone’s economic state off of their actions alone.  Until then we need to start critically analyzing what structures are in place in today’s society that cause individuals to fall below a defined poverty line, and in turn become homeless.  I encourage you to ask these questions the next time you sign on to your computer to read my blog.  Try working without a computer for a week and see how messed up your life becomes.

Cheers & Happy Browsing

Bryan

Millionair Club Charity: Job Placement Services

http://www.millionairclub.org/index.html

The majority of my time at the Millionair Club Charity was focused on understanding their job placement programs.  To give you a brief background, the Millionair Club provides a work referral service for all of its clients.  Employers which include homeowners, investment property owners, and businesses around the Seattle metro area contact the club with jobs that need to be filled 3 days prior to the actual date of hire.  The Millionair Club then compiles the jobs into a database system and doles them out to members based off of skill set, specific requests by the employers, and through a seniority rotation process. 

Jobs are generally awarded to members in the morning between 6-8am and in the afternoon from 12-2pm.  Clients are welcomed to a hot meal for breakfast and lunch before they are hired for the day.  On average, members are hired between 2 and 4 days a week depending on the season.  In the summer, more jobs are available especially since the homeowner employers increase projects during this time.  When demand is high, the Millionair Club has placed up to 120 jobs in one day during the summer months. 

In order to qualify for jobs through the Millionair Club, clients must become an official member of the club. Unlike their food services program, which is opened to the public, the job placement program is for members only.  All club members go through an extensive screening process before given their official Millionair Club Member Card.  This is to ensure employers that they will be hiring employees who have had background checks and are prepared to work both physically and mentally. 

The Millionair Club advocates strong relationship building between the employer and their employee.  Employers are required/suggested to hire their workers for a minimum of 4 hours and pay above the minimum wage salary in Seattle which is at roughly $9.00/hour.  Many times, employers are so thrilled with the work ethic of the Millionair Club members that they often pay way above the suggested $9.00/hour.  Most club members are fed on the job by their employers and are also given bus passes, called taxis, or picked up by their employers on the day they are hired.  Members are encouraged to build strong relationships with their one-time employers in order to create opportunity for them to work for that organization again or be hired part-time!

The creation of employment opportunities is at the root of the Millionair Club’s mission.  Instead of solely providing a hot meal and a shelter at night for its clients, this organization works to improve the lives of those struck with homelessness.  Many times it takes a middle man to provide opportunities to a population that otherwise would not have access to such opportunity.  If you are a Seattle resident or know someone who lives in the metro area of Seattle, please take the time to look at the programs that the Millionair Club provides.  Hire a worker for a day, go down and join the clients during one of their meals, or act as a reference for someone else who needs some day labor.  Not only will you gain services from this organization, but you will provide someone with a day of honest work and more importantly will meet a great member of the community of Seattle!

You can request a job hire at the following link!
http://www.millionairclub.org/hire_form.html

Cheers,
Bryan