Step Up’s rapid workforce job development program offers comprehensive barrier-free job placement and employment development services.
Some of the services include:
- Pre-vocational training
- Resume building
- Employment preparation
- Community job seeking
- Job placement
- Overcoming barriers to successful job placements
- In-the-field job coaching
- Work experience and training
- Peer support training
The Vocational Mission is:
Everyone who wants to work should work.
All Step Up members desiring meaningful, community-competitive employment will be assisted in achieving that goal. The program is founded on the nationally recognized IPS rapid work program where the foundation of all services is based on consumer choice. Employment support is continuous, even after participants have obtained competitive employment.
Step Up’s vocational programs also include the operations of Step Up’s social enterprise business, Fresh Start Market & Grill, meals program, a janitorial business, urban garden and peer support programs in various locations.
Approximately 100 individuals participate each year in Step Up’s workforce development and education programs.
The Rooftop Urban Garden at Step Up on Vine
The rooftop urban garden at Step Up on Vine (SUOV) is a series of hydroponic towers which simplify traditional gardening, allowing communities in densely populated urban areas an opportunity to grow their own food. The towers produce vegetables that are used in daily meal preparation in the kitchens of SUOV in Hollywood and Step Up on Second in Santa Monica. Step Up serves over 50,000 meals annually in various Step Up service locations.
Through the past generous support of Supervisor Kuehl’s Third District’s Food for The Soul program, Step Up has been able to maintain its urban garden and has employed nine individuals who formerly experienced homeless and mental illness, five of whom have left our program and gone on to jobs within the community.
The urban garden program not only supplies fresh vegetables to Step Up’s Meals Program, but also provides exposure to all residents on healthy eating through nutritional groups. In addition, members who have attended a basic nutritional group can request and receive overflow produce for their personal use. Step Up also offers life skills training groups to show how to use and prepare these goods in a manner everyone wants to eat.
