OUR MISSION: MAKING SUSTAINABLE LIVING A REALITY FOR DISPLACED AND SEEMINGLY UNEMPLOYABLE PERSONS
RW serves homeless, previously incarcerated, and disabled persons navigating barriers to sustainable living; poverty, addiction, discrimination, and mental or physical health struggles. Our work began in 2008 when Rev. Dr. Tina Carter joined RW Executive Director Rev. Dr. Mindy Johnson-Hicks in writing The Wealth of Poverty (Outskirts Press, 2013); an exploration of the ways authentic relationships across socio-economic groups enables collective prosperity. During this collaboration, it became apparent that under-served populations of homeless, previously incarcerated and disabled people shared common barriers to finding employment, housing, and healthcare. RW incorporated in 2013 to learn to navigate those barriers. We established a human services and advocacy clinic staffed by volunteer coaches who collaborate with clients as they seek secure employment, manageable housing and access to healthcare – all essentials to sustainable living.
When people find themselves outside the system of employ-ability for too long, it is very difficult to find the way back. Some persons find themselves labeled "unemployable" because they've been sick, in prison, or homeless. We make it our mission to redeem these seemingly unemployable people to a life of joy, hope and realized opportunity. We do that by joining them on the journey, coaching them in workplace culture. job search and retention skills, advocating for their needs, and helping them recognize their skills and talents beyond the negative messages society has placed upon them.
Tagged With a Bad Label...
Looking for a job is brutal enough, but when a person has a socially defined “bad” label, the level of rejection experienced borders on impossible to overcome. In addition, when out of work for some time, it is easy to fall into homelessness. In our experience, finding employment while being homeless is also nearly impossible. A person with a prison record, a chronic or recurring health diagnosis-- even though they have great gifts and amazing talents -- cannot get hired into a sustainable job situation. Ageing out of the foster care system, especially with little or no education or family support, also makes finding employment nearly impossible. For a single parent with small children and no family support, retaining a job can be the challenge. Once expelled from societal norms, those tagged with a "bad" label are caught in a downward spiral, losing all the tools it takes to get a keep a job; tools like transportation, clean clothing, a telephone to receive employer's calls, identification documents, child care, etc.
We see possibilities beyond these culturally created barriers....
What we do...
We offer people community in a coaching model. Together, we fill out forms for jobs, obtain replacement identification documents, learn the hidden expectations of workplace culture, and build up confidence and self-esteem when the negativity becomes overwhelming. We also help these beautiful humans capitalize on their strengths and experiences, so that, when seeking a job, they can communicate their job skills effectively. Redemptive Work's coaches must advocate in a myriad of ways with clients as well. We negotiate with disability offices, judges, lawyers, probation officers, employers, landlords among others to keep a client's needs met until they have learned to handle these obstacles on their own and have a sustainable place in the world which they can handle. We continue in community with these persons who have been locked out as they pursue a living wage and health insurance, which will enable them to support a sustainable home.
How we do what we do....
Because of generous people and a cost-saving network, we can meet many needs for folks trapped beneath resource limitations. Parker Lane UMC provides clothing through their Thrift Store and a Food Pantry. Capital Metro offers deeply deeply discounted bus passes to get folks to work, medical visits and other necessary appointments. College and Professional interns volunteer to be trained as coaches for free or in exchange for college credit. Once a client has been through the Redemptive Work process, and are living sustainably and within their means, they become eligible to train as a coach, sharing what they've learned and the ways we found hope in the midst of hopeless situations, further building community and capacities. Donor traffic and bookshelf sales from our website, Austin's ASK Charitable Foundation, A Glimmer of Hope-Austin Foundation and The United Methodist Church provide cash donations. Google for Non-Profits provides free online services. Braiding together so many helpful gifts of time and treasure, we are able to serve those who can not afford the services they require. Redemptive Work is a community of care that stands on the edge of the abyss and shows the outcast a path that will bring them back from the indignities of societal exclusion. Each individual will have to walk this long road, recognizing and developing their own self-sufficiency, but they get to accomplish that walk within a community that has walked the path before. That is how Redemptive Work works.