The city of Portland has started to use a mobile and online platform to try and raise additional funds for it new panhandling-to-work pilot program. The aim of Portland Opportunity Crew is to offer panhandlers the chance to earn money to clean up public areas while also connecting them to additional services such as job training and housing.
“I think the hope is that, if we continue to see the numbers prove that this is useful here and beneficial here then we can potentially have more people each week,” says Portland spokesperson Jessica Grondin. “So right now we have up to five, actually last week we had six.
Grondin says with more funds it might be possible to support ten or 12 people a week and maybe to extend the length of the program which is now scheduled to go about 36 weeks. More information is available on the City of Portland’s Opportunity Crew web page.
