YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Social service organizations came to Western Reserve Transit Authority’s station in downtown Youngstown on Sept. 27 to distribute information about employment and housing resources available to the unemployed and people returning from incarceration.
The Mobile Hope Conference was convened by Guy Burney from the Youngstown Community Initiative to Reduce Violence. Burney approached WRTA mobility manager Esmeralda Vargas about hosting such an event. Earlier this year his group held its first Hope Conference at Covelli Centre.
“We’re going to pick spots where we know the public will be at,” Burney says. “It’s just a way to touch the community.”
Pictured at top: Three staff members from United Returning Citizens – April Slocum, intake specialist; Carshara Bradley, housing coordinator; and Nina Shutack, re-entry social worker – provide those stopping by their table with information about how URC can help citizens regain a home, a job and other necessities following incarceration.