The San Diego Grand Jury commended a Housing Commission program called the Achievement Academy, which provides classes to help families on assistance.
A County Grand Jury report released Thursday praised a San Diego Housing Commission program as “performing in an outstanding manner or providing noteworthy community services” by helping families on assistance become self-sufficient.
The report did not say what prompted the investigation, which included visits to the commission offices and interviews with officials and clients in its Achievement Academy last year.
The academy’s program emphasizes career planning, job skills and personal financial education classes that are free to families who receive federal Section 8 housing vouchers or live in public housing.
It includes a learning and resource center with a 30-station computer lab on the ground floor of the Housing Commission’s downtown offices, and workshops focus on job-search preparation, effective resume writing and building interpersonal and team skills.
“The SDHC Achievement Academy is essential to our mission to provide opportunities for the families we serve to improve their quality of life,” Housing Commission President and CEO Rick Gentry said in a news release. “I thank the Grand Jury for its thorough review of the SDHC Achievement Academy and this well-deserved recognition of its success in helping families become more financially self-reliant.”
The commission created the academy in 2010 after being designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as one of only 39 “Moving to Work” housing authorities in the country.
The designation exempts the commission from some HUD rules and allows it the flexibility to create programs aimed at helping clients become self-sufficient while using federal dollars more efficiently.
The report also noted that participation in the Achievement Academy has steadily increased, with about 1,180 people using it in fiscal year 2014 and about 2,000 participating in fiscal year 2018.
“Too often we hear that recipients of public benefits are content to continue to accept whatever benefits are available and are not motivated to achieve self-sufficiency or to improve their lives,” the Grand Jury report stated. “However, the tenants receiving rental assistance from the City of San Diego Housing Commission are proving that this notion is not always correct.”
According to the Housing Commission, more than 5,6000 people have gone through the academy, and more than 1,000 have found jobs. Participants in the academy also saw their average hourly wage increase 38.8 percent, from $9.50 to $13.19, the commission reported.
The report called the academy a model of public and private collaboration, with job interviews regularly scheduled with Ace Parking, Home Depot, Manpower, Sea World and the Urban Corps.
The commission has augmented its HUD funding for the academy with donations from the private sector, the Grand Jury noted. A major grant of $780,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded the 2 Gen San Diego program that helped 60 City Heights families receive rental assistance, financial counseling, employment preparation and access to health care, the report said.
Academy programs include Path to Success, which allows clients who are able to work an opportunity to increase their income without a corresponding increase in their portion of the rent, creating an incentive for them to seek promotions.
The two-year Family Self-Sufficiency program can provide participants with up to $10,000 in an escrow account if they meet employment and educational goals.
The academy’s one-year Power of One program provides career planning and financial management help for single parents who receive rental assistance.
In another academy program, Reading for Success provides families receiving rental assistance or in public housing access to a lending library of about 1,500 donated children’s books.
June 20, 2019
The San Diego Union-Tribune
By Gary Warth
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