PRESS RELEASE -- JUNE 22, 2000

Contacts:

Paul Gerald, Public Relations, 234-5475
Chip Shields, Executive Director, 281-2663
http://betterpeople.org

Non-Profit Better People Receives Enterprise Community Grant

Portland-based Better People was recently selected as the recipient of $59,489 in federal Enterprise Community funds to expand its employment and cognitive-behavioral counseling program in the N/NE Portland section of the Enterprise Community.

Better People, a privately-funded nonprofit whose mission is to dramatically reduce recidivism (offenders returning to crime) in Multnomah County and other areas, will use the funds to hire a new Marketer/Job Developer and expand outreach through bus and billboard advertising along Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. The hiring will bring Better People's full-time staff size to five.

This is Better People's first government-supported grant and is an important step in the measured growth it envisioned in its business plan. Better People opened in June 1998 and has placed 98 former offenders in jobs averaging nearly $8.36/hour plus health benefits. The agency only works with companies that pay a minimum of $8/hr. with health benefits. (What has Better People accomplished so far?)

"The Enterprise Community grant will open more doors for former offenders who live in N/NE Portland," said Chip Shields, Better People Executive Director. "And it will help more businesses that pay a living-wage find and keep better people."

The Portland/Multnomah Enterprise Community is an area of the city including portions of North, Northeast and Downtown. The purpose of the Enterprise Community Strategic Revitalization Program is to 1) link quality jobs and training to residents of the target area, 2) provide requisite human and family services to enable residents to work productively, 3) empower residents economically from dependency and disenfranchisement, 4) work with the community to plan and
implement programs and projects that revitalize areas of business and housing disinvestment and 5) promote economic opportunity and provide basic services and amenities.

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Feature story idea: We can put editors and reporters in touch with Better People clients as well as employers who have hired them. Reporters please call Paul Gerald at 234-5475 for more information! E-mail gerald@betterpeople.org.