The Californer - Mayor Liccardo Announces Expansion San Jose Bridge, Doubling Program Capacity and Service Areas

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SAN JOSÉ, CA - Today, Mayor Sam Liccardo announced the expansion of San José Bridge, a program that hires unhoused residents to clean and beautify San José, providing participants with services, wages, and a path to self-sufficiency. The expansion, which will nearly double the current program, will employ 100 participants and dramatically increase the collection services of existing and new locations for two years. There is currently a Request for Proposal (RFP) due on October 1, 2021, seeking partner agencies to employ the program's unhoused participants.

Depending on the response to the RFP, SJ Bridge will be able to scale up to 140 service sites, doubling current service areas. The program will also have room for at least 100 positions, also doubling the current number of participants.

"We continue to do the hard work around expanding opportunities that will have the most profound and equitable impact for our unhoused neighbors through programs like SJ Bridge," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. "Leveraging local partners, like Downtown Streets Team and Goodwill Silicon Valley--who already have the groundwork to help our most vulnerable population--and pairing them with career-sustaining and housing options allows participants to reclaim a path to self-sufficiency, all while beautifying our city."

In 2020, 71 participants, of whom 21 were offered full-time employment, serviced over 70 locations, collected nearly 8,000 trash bags, and removed 155 tons (or 310,000 pounds) of debris across 2.4 million square feet of sidewalks and streets. Currently, there are 50 participants in the program.

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The program expansion will be funded through June 30, 2023, with $1,600,000 in American Rescue Plan and local funds. SJ Bridge employees focus on litter clean-up and beautification projects, support, and training for living wage employment. The program combines employment with housing support by leveraging the City's emergency interim housing.
Downtown Streets Team and Goodwill Silicon Valley are the program's current partners and employ unhoused individuals as part of cleaning crews to combat blight. They both aim to support participants in the form of job training and good wages.
Participants in the expanded program will be paid $23.31 per hour if health benefits are offered or $24.56 per hour if health benefits are not offered.
Other expanded and innovative solutions being implemented to reclaim our public spaces and focused on engaging housed and unhoused residents to keep our community clean and safe:

BeautifySJ: Launched in 2017 by Mayor Liccardo, BeautifySJ has worked with thousands of volunteers to clean up and help restore our community. Through their anti-litter program, encampment trash program, illegal dumping collection, and other beautification events, BeautifySJ has cleaned up over 5,500 tons, or 11 million pounds, of trash, litter, and debris in the last 12 months.
Cash for Trash: Cash for Trash launched in November 2020, to help battle blight in San Jose by incentivizing unhoused residents to pick up trash at encampments in exchange for reloadable cards from Mastercard for up to $40 a week. Since its inception, 294 unhoused residents have participated, removing over 243 tons, or 588,000 pounds, of trash at 22 locations. Mayor Liccardo expanded the program in his March 2021 Budget message to serve 500 unhoused residents and funding for two years to dramatically scale efforts.

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Talking Trash: Mayor Liccardo is hosting a series of clean-up town halls, providing residents opportunities to directly ask questions or discuss community issues while beautifying their neighborhoods.
Employing Unhoused Residents to Protect and Clean Public Restrooms: Starting in December 2021, the city will launch a pilot program that builds on the success of SJ Bridge, by employing unhoused residents to protect and clean public restrooms.

Other resources residents can use to keep their homes clean include the city's Free Junk Pick Up and San Jose 311.

More information can be found here.

Broll from the presser can be found here.

*(Please note there were technical difficulties with the live streaming).

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About the City of San José
With more than one million residents, San José comprises the 10^th 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.

Filed Under: Government, City

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