Jobs Plus Program - Southwind Villas

The Jobs Plus Program empowers residents of Jacksonville Housing Southwind Villas with employment-related services, supportive services and community support for work via an employment case management and coaching model to assist with navigating the community resources for accessing services and assistance with life management and employment.

Core Components of the Jobs Plus Program
To address poverty among public housing residents through place-based, job-driven approaches to increase earnings and advance employment outcomes for participants. The program is based on the following three core components:

Employment-Related Services
Partnerships will be developed with the Department of Labor Workforce Investment Board (CareerSource) and American Job Center to offer multiple employment-related services for residents.

Financial Incentives
(i.e. Jobs Plus Earned Income Disregard (JPEID) - To incentivize work, participant baseline earned income will not change for up to 48 months or the duration of the grant term, whichever period is sooner.

Community Supports for Work
Outreach and community support will be directed towards residents at all points on the employment spectrum. Residents will be utilized as Community Coaches to create a culture of work at the property.
Beyond these core components, collaboration with other local agencies is encouraged to connect residents with employment-related services such as childcare, transportation assistance, financial literacy, legal services, domestic violence prevention, or other applicable supports.

The Jobs Plus program was put in place to help develop locally-based, job-driven approaches to increase income and employment outcomes for residents of public housing. The program helps residents improve their earnings and employability through training, incentives, and services like technological skills training, financial literacy courses, job placement assistance and income disregards for working families.