San Jose Mayor Champions SJ Bridge: Employment Program for Unhoused Residents Beautifying San Jose
SJ Bridge provides participants with job training and employment, participants have taken over 351,450 pounds of trash off the streets
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2023
Media Contact:
Tasha Dean, Chief Communications Officer, Office of Mayor Matt Mahan, [email protected]
SAN JOSÉ, CA - Today, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, joined by partners and representatives of San Jose Bridge (SJ Bridge) at Guadalupe River Park to champion the extension of the SJ Bridge Program in the March budget proposal. SJ Bridge is a program for unhoused residents that provides job training, the development of long-term career goals, permanent job placement, and assists in finding participants housing.
“Paying homeless neighbors to clean up our city is a win-win,” said San José Mayor Matt Mahan. “It provides the dignity of work and a stable paycheck while they make San José a cleaner, safer city. SJ Bridge takes it a step further by connecting participants to job training, permanent employment, and interim housing—keeping them on the path toward a better life.”
SJ Bridge has employed 137 unhoused residents since March 2022 and 46 participants have secured permanent jobs at various companies and organizations, including Tesla, Goodwill, the Santa Clara County Reentry Resource Center, and the San José Airport. To date, SJ Bridge participants have removed 351,450 pounds of trash from city streets and trails through beautification efforts.
Investing in programs that work, like SJ Bridge, is a part of Mayor Mahan’s wider approach to addressing the basics—homelessness, safety, and blight. These issues are of chief concern to San José residents and are the same areas that Mayor Mahan is urging the city to focus on, proposing policies that are grounded in common sense.
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About the City of San José
With more than one million residents, San José comprises the 10th largest city in the United States and one of its most diverse cities. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center in the heart of Silicon Valley has resulted in the world's greatest concentration of technology talent and development.