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Local Headlines

Clean Start Program launched in Danbury

The Clean Start Program has begun in Danbury.  It's an initiative that was proposed by Mayor Mark Boughton in December as a way to put homeless people to work for the City.  The program provides homeless people with gift cards for supervised litter collection. 

 

Danbury has teamed up with Jericho Partnership for the effort. 

 

Boughton says the participants in the program are working to make themselves better and be on track to re-enter the workforce.  He notes that if someone excels in the program, and received the right kinds of services, they could be moved into a paying job like a part-time recreation maintenance worker.  Boughton hopes by cleaning up the city, participants will also clean up their lives. 

 

Homeless people who volunteer in the program are given mentoring and paid with a $35 gift card after each half-day shift.  As long as they want to show up in the morning, Boughton says the City will find a way to keep them employed so they can pull themselves out of despair and give them dignity again. 

 

In the latest Point in Time Count, chronic homelessness in Danbury had dropped 30-percent from the year before.  Chronic homelessness among veterans in Danbury has been completely eliminated.

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Dave Rinelli

Local Headlines