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KeyBank Foundation Grant Boosts Innovative Job Program at Springfield Rescue Mission

By
Springfield Rescue Mission CEO Kevin Ramsdell
Employment Special Coverage

A Hand Up, Not a Handout

Springfield Rescue Mission CEO Kevin Ramsdell

Springfield Rescue Mission CEO Kevin Ramsdell

Springfield Rescue Mission has long helped its homeless clients find jobs. Sabra Ramsdell was concerned about how often those jobs didn’t stick.

“What is the value in work? A lot of people don’t understand that the value in work is that it teaches you a discipline,” she told BusinessWest. “It’s not just a paycheck. It teaches you how to build self-esteem in yourself.”

And for whatever reason, motivation or otherwise, “we would find that guys would just hit a brick wall and quit. And we were scratching our heads going, ‘why? What’s going on?’ But we had no mechanism to call an employer and say, ‘well, what happened?’ And if you talk to the residents, you get one side. So I finally just said, ‘this isn’t going to work this way.’”

So Ramsdell, chief of staff at Springfield Rescue Mission (and the wife of CEO Kevin Ramsdell), started thinking about different models.

“The one entity that I’ve seen that does this over the long haul is the DDS,” she said, referring to the state Department of Developmental Services. “They have a mechanism that works between HR departments, companies, and employees. Many of these guys who are housed in group homes come to, say, Big Y through an agency. Well, we’re an agency, so how come we can’t develop a program that would ensure to companies that they would have a fallback to contact us if they were running into an issue? It’s really that simple.”

That’s how the mission’s Workforce Development Outreach program was born. And on Oct. 30, the program got a major boost of funding — and a vote of confidence, really — from KeyBank Foundation in the form of a two-year, $150,000 grant to create a liaison position that will work with employers to help the mission’s transitional residents secure jobs best suited for them, and then keep them and grow in their careers.

“This grant reflects our ongoing dedication to investing in local communities and helping individuals build brighter futures.”

“One of KeyBank’s philanthropic focus areas is workforce development and helping individuals achieve the skills, education, and capabilities they need to succeed in current and future employment opportunities,” said Matthew Hummel, KeyBank’s market president for Connecticut and Massachusetts. “This grant reflects our ongoing dedication to investing in local communities and helping individuals build brighter futures.”

Essentially, the Workforce Development Outreach program matches mission residents with potential employers, while providing training and support to the residents to become effective, retainable employees. The grant is a way to build and expand partnerships with local companies and, through the new liaison, coordinate efforts between employers, employees, and the mission’s case-management team.

the $150,000 grant to Springfield Rescue Mission

KeyBank’s Matthew Hummel, flanked by Sabra and Kevin Ramsdell and joined by local and state leaders, presents the $150,000 grant to Springfield Rescue Mission.

“We are incredibly grateful to KeyBank for the generous funding, which will greatly enhance our Workforce Development Outreach program,” Kevin Ramsdell said during the check-presentation ceremony. “This support will empower us to help more individuals in need gain valuable skills and opportunities to secure sustainable employment and self-sufficiency.”

 

Shared Mission

Hummel told the crowd gathered at the check presentation that KeyBank Foundation’s focus on helping people attain the skills and education needed to succeed in careers fits squarely with the mission’s work.

“The Workforce Development Outreach program is not just about job training, it’s about equipping people with the skills, the confidence, and the support they need to rebuild their lives. It’s about giving people hope, dignity, and the opportunity for a better future. That’s also a mission that we can stand behind,” he said. “With this grant, we’re helping them create a pathway to success, offering tools to allow individuals to secure meaningful employment, achieve financial independence, and ultimately contribute to the privacy of this community.

“Employers are going to have that support, too. They’ve got somebody else that they can talk to about what’s really going on. And we genuinely want these guys to realize their dream and become effective employees.”

“By partnering with not-for-profits and nonprofits like Springfield Rescue Mission,” Hummel added, “we can help individuals rise above their challenges and build a foundation for long-term success.”

It’s a message that also resonated with state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, who touted Springfield Rescue Mission’s status as the first shelter of its kind in the state of Massachusetts, and the fifth-oldest in the U.S.

“This is about our community. This is not about helping with a handout, it’s helping with a hand up. That’s what this program is about,” he said. “These opportunities are about not only sheltering, but about rehabilitation.”

City Councilman Melvin Edwards spoke to the Christian values that undergird the mission’s work.

“I know that the mission is biblical, and we’re supposed to feed those in need and house them,” he said. “I believe this program is about the fact that some of us are in a better position than others, but … our collective success is dependent on the people around us and whether they’re willing to reach out and give us a helping hand. So for those of you who are providing the services, thank you.

“For those who are receiving services, look in the mirror and recognize you do have value, you are loved, and people in the community do respect you,” Edwards added. “Sometimes we can’t control how people speak about us and look at us. But you should look at yourselves and realize you do have value.”

Sabra Ramsdell emphasized during her short address that the underserved population needs more than just simply a job. “Most of us could go get a job,” she noted. “The trick is to get a job doing something you love because, as my husband likes to say, you’ll never really work a day in your life if you love what you’re doing.

Matthew Hummel

Matthew Hummel says workforce development is one of KeyBank’s philanthropic focus areas.

“Secondly, you need real support from employers who understand that the population we’re dealing with … may not completely have all the skills necessary to perform the way we would like. So this program was born to bring about a relationship between employer, case management, and resident in an effective way that we hope solves problems and produces more active, robust employees.”

 

More Than a Job

Springfield Rescue Mission’s Taylor Street site hosts an emergency shelter accommodating 45 men nightly, offering meals, showers, and clothing, while its Rehabilitation Program supports transitions with healthcare, addiction services, and mental-health support. At the mission’s Mill Street location, the New Life Rehabilitation Program aids up to 60 men over six to 12 months through a holistic wellness track, including medical care, academic support, workforce development, and life-skills training. The mission also distributes 3.1 million pounds of food annually, benefiting hundreds through meals and community outreach.

After the check presentation, Sabra Ramsdell told BusinessWest that she wants to help people succeed in life by creating more of a mentoring partnership between employers and underserved populations.
“Employers are going to have that support, too. They’ve got somebody else that they can talk to about what’s really going on. And we genuinely want these guys to realize their dream and become effective employees.”

If the liaison to be hired with KeyBank Foundation’s grant funding is as effective as hoped, Ramsdell said she could see this program becoming a model that could be incorporated into other social services.

“I don’t have a social-service background. I was a banker for 20 years. I did mortgage work. So I know what I know — the pathway to becoming independent financially as a first-time homebuyer. But I don’t know this other piece, which is getting somebody from where these guys are to that point.”

To aid in that process of economic advancement, the mission also provides digital-literacy training to help residents gain the basic skills they need to work in many settings.

As for long-term goals, she noted, “you have to look at that whole person and say, ‘how old are you? What is your dream? What did you dream? What did you like doing when you were a kid? Tell me about your life, your family.’ You’ve got to analyze where they really are and then figure out where they need to go.”

The Workforce Development Outreach program is open to all the mission’s transitional-living clients, more than 100 at a time. So the impact could be significant, boosting local businesses in need of workers while providing not just jobs, but potentially career pathways beyond minimum wage.

“If it’s a difference between $15 an hour and $25 an hour or more,” Ramsdell said, “that gets them out of that cycle of poverty.”

BusinessTalk with Jessica Bossie, primary care doctor for Health Services for the Homeless

By
Business Talk Podcast Special Coverage

We are excited to announce that BusinessWest, in partnership with Living Local, has launched a new podcast series, BusinessTalk. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews and discussions with local industry leaders, providing thoughtful perspectives on the Western Massachuetts economy and the many business ventures that keep it running during these challenging times.

Episode 63: May 10, 2021

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien begins a series of shows devoted to the 40 Under Forty Class of 2021 by talking with top scorer Jessica Bossie, primary care doctor for Health Services for the Homeless

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien begins a series of shows devoted to the 40 Under Forty Class of 2021 by talking with top scorer Jessica Bossie, primary care doctor for Health Services for the Homeless. The two discuss the critical work that this agency carries out, the many challenges involved with treating the homeless population, and the many ways this program is not only helping the homeless, but bringing down the cost of care for everyone by treating the homeless where they are, and not in the ER. It’s must listening, so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

 

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Nicebox Takes Proactive Approach to Meeting Needs of the Homeless

By
Pat Callahan and his aunt, Jan
Nonprofit Management

Sustainable Concept

Patrick Callahan doesn’t know exactly where the image originated.

It was a Facebook post about a community overseas that had set up a refrigerator on the side of a street to provide the homeless with leftovers offered by the local community.

“I think it was in India, but I really can’t be sure,” said Callahan, adding quickly that the exact location wasn’t and isn’t really important. What is important is the concept and the proactive, imaginative response to the needs of the homeless.

And what’s more important still is the way it inspired him to not only ask what could be done in this region — a thought experiment, as he called it — but to help answer that question.

“I thought to myself, we should be doing something like that refrigerator,” said Callahan, a member of the emerging third generation involved with Palmer Paving Corp., who approached the principals there, including his aunt, Jan, about leveraging the company’s many relationships within the communities it serves and building upon its long history of giving back to address obvious needs.

That ‘something’ is an emerging and intriguing story called Nicebox, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created in 2016 to address the many needs of the homeless.

One of the original ideas — and it is still being talked about on many levels — was to install solar-powered vending machines in strategic locations that would, in exchange for a certain amount of recyclables, dispense a Nicebox, a pack filled with items the homeless can use. While discussions on machines continued, talk also focused on exactly what should go into these packs, said Pat Callahan, adding that, eventually, it was determined that several different kinds of packs are needed, including those filled with food, hygiene items, and healthcare needs.

And the newly created nonprofit set about creating some of these packs, starting with the one that has come to be called the Tidypack. It contains a host of hygiene products, including soap, shampoo, conditioner, a razor and shaving cream, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and more.

Working with the Friends of the Homeless, part of Clinical & Support Options (CSO), Nicebox has distributed more than 3,000 of these packs to date, said Pat Callahan, adding that the boxes are catching on, and so is that name, Tidypack, thanks to a true partnership with Friends of the Homeless.

“We’ve been working in close concert with them,” she explained. “Originally, we had an idea for the Tidypack — let’s give them these products. But then we took a step back and said, ‘let’s go in and see what they really need.’ So we sat down with the team at Friends of the Homeless and determined what they really needed.”

The packs can last an individual a week or more, said Jan, adding that the cost of filling one — thanks to wholesale purchases and discounts given to nonprofits — is roughly the same as that for a gourmet coffee, and this is the message Nicebox is spreading as it goes about enlisting support for its efforts.

“To help someone stay clean for a week only costs $2.50,” she noted. “When you think of an individual who’s struggling, you can help them for the same as it would cost to buy to a coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts.”

Pat Callahan and his aunt, Jan, say customers and partners of Palmer Paving have supported Nicebox early on, and they want to see that support expand outward.

And the nonprofit has secured quite a bit of help, she went on, noting that while Nicebox does some fundraising — she recently conducted an appeal on Facebook — it has thus far mostly relied on the support of customers, vendors, and other partners of Palmer Paving.

“With the reach that Palmer Paving has, we’ve been sending out sort of ad hoc requests for donations within our group of friends and company friends, and they’ve been supportive of this,” she told BusinessWest.

And support is needed as the nonprofit looks to not only expand the presence of the Tidypack, but also move forward with another type of assistance package — the Healthpack.

Indeed, Nicebox is collaborating with Mercy Medical Center, which already has a strong track record for work with the homeless in and around Springfield, to introduce the packs this summer.

They will include such items as a clean pair of socks, Band-Aids, ointment, a sewing kit, and other items, said Pat Callahan, and will be distributed by the medical center to those who, for whatever reason, will not come to a homeless shelter.

Moving forward, Pat and Jan noted that those involved with Nicebox have been working diligently over the past two years to track their progress and results, with the goal of using the accumulated data to apply for grants from foundations and other entities so the nonprofit doesn’t have to rely on donations and can expand its efforts geographically and through initiatives that might include a Nicebox on wheels that can distribute packs to a wider area.

Mercy Medical Center is part of the national Trinity Health system, noted Pat Callahan, adding that this affiliation may become a vehicle for taking the Healthpacks regional and perhaps national. Already, the nonprofit has become involved with some initatives in the Hartford area.

Meanwhile, Nicebox is also taking steps to increase its visibility through a number of initiatives, including booths at events like the upcoming Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival and others like it.

Overall, Nicebox is focused on putting its mission on a rock-solid foundation and continually building — those sound like phrases that would be heard at Palmer Paving — on a concept grounded in meeting need.

Like Patrick Callahan said, he’s not sure where that Facebook post of the refrigerator on the side of the road originated from. What matters is that he saw it, he was inspired by it, and he’s working with others to find similarly unique ways to help those who need some.

— George O’Brien