Economic Roundtable

Tools from the Realization Project

Resource Library for Identifying and Helping Workers at Risk of Persistent Homelessness

December 9, 2022 / By Daniel Flaming
Underwriter: Economic Roundtable

The Realization Project is a system-change demonstration project of the Economic Roundtable. It has produced public domain library of screening, instructional, personal restoration, and employment tools. The project uses predictive analytic screening tools, which can be downloaded here, to identify unemployed workers with a high risk of becoming persistently homeless.

Within the spectrum of need among homeless workers and the range of possible interventions, the screening tools target high-barrier, high potential individuals who are likely to be persistently homeless and have public costs of over $15,000 a year. The screening tools are explained in the Economic Roundtable report, Early Intervention to Prevent Persistent Homelessness. Outcomes from the Realization Project are validating the effectiveness of employment in preventing homeless and ensuring an income-based right to housing.

The project addresses chronic homelessness as a problem of racial injustice as well as a problem of inadequate income by providing comprehensive services and skill development for jobs paying wages that cover rent for adults on a path to chronic homelessness.

Poverty and underemployment are often symptoms of deeper trauma that is profoundly damaging, devaluing, and confidence-shattering. The curriculum lays the groundwork for practical discourses on justice and emotional intelligence in community. Participants’ justice work begins with doing themselves justice through learning and performance.

Participants receive immediate housing and mental health support, and access to the full array of project services. They engage a curriculum focused on professional employability as well as individual psycho-emotional development. Topics, themes, and concepts include resume writing, job searching, home economics, and mock interviews as well as emotional intelligence, self-expression, meditation, and focus.

Restoration of the human spirit and rebuilding hope and purpose are essential for homeless workers to achieve their productive potential. Deeply damaging trauma that is profoundly devaluing and confidence-shattering is universal among participants. When participants heal core emotional wounds, they can achieve a personal renaissance. The project engages spirituality and cultural imagination to awaken these possibilities.

New material is still being added to the library. If you have questions, please contact Seth Pickens or Daniel Flaming at the Economic Roundtable.