SUCCESS STORIES: CDBG-Funding, First Step House, and an Employment Preparation and Placement Success

December 19, 2023

This success story is from the First Step House’s CDBG-funded, Employment Preparation and Placement Program, a program that provides supportive employment services to high-risk, high-need individuals in the community caught in the cycle of relapse, mental illness, incarceration, homelessness, and unemployment. The story reports the experience of an anonymous client, who for the purposes of this post will be referred to as Sam.

At the time of reporting, First Step House (FSH) had been serving Sam for over a year. When they began working with Sam, he was experiencing a variety of challenges in his life. He was living in an apartment on a housing voucher with squatters. He was struggling with substance abuse, making it difficult for him to hold down a job or attend job interviews regularly. He was full of despair, regularly tearful, and he told his employment specialist once that he believed he would use until the day he died.

Because of the teamwork of all FSH staff and because of the rapport he and his employment specialist had built together, Sam felt comfortable entering treatment at one of the FSH residential facilities. Though he experienced a brief relapse and job loss, he persisted in his treatment and his employment efforts. He eventually moved on to outpatient treatment, where he is still receiving services. Sam was not court-ordered to treatment, but is self-motivated and continues to attend outpatient treatment with commitment and tenacity. He now has a job that he enjoys, has relationships with his family, and spent the holiday season in his new apartment! According to staff who know him, Sam’s whole demeanor has changed from that of a tearful and desperate man to that of a positive, optimistic, and cheerful person. He states that his employment has been a key component of his success and that he could not have come this far without the employment support that he was receiving.

All client names have been changed. All stories and photos shared on the Housing Stability Division website are shared with permission. If you wish to submit your own success story, or for more information on multimedia release authorizations, you can email housingstabiliy@slc.gov, or call 801-535-7712.