Ready, Willing & Able | The Doe Fund

In May he joined a work-rehabilitation program called Ready, Willing & Able. Today he is working every day, learning computer and Internet skills. He says he has left drugs and alcohol far behind.

Ready, Willing & Able is run by The Doe Fund, a not-for-profit organization that has offered homeless men and women in New York a hand up and a way out since 1995. Now, thanks to a grant and loan from the South Bronx Empowerment Zone, The Doe Fund is expanding its operations.

Garcia works at Back Office Inc., a Doe Fund subsidiary. The company handles the processing and distribution of pre-sorted bulk mailings and Internet research for Toyota, and packages display racks for Coach, the leather company.

The business had been operating out of a room at The Doe Fund's Harlem shelter since 1996, but recently moved into a 16,000-square-foot facility at 728 E. 136th St. in the South Bronx after securing the Empowerment Zone grant through the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp.

Under Empowerment Zone procedures, the federal, state and city governments pool money for projects designed to revitalize the depressed area. In this case, Back Office will receive a $90,500 loan and an $87,500 grant over three years for moving to the Bronx and agreeing to employ zone residents.

"The business went so well that Toyota wanted us to expand things, and we jumped at the opportunity," said George McDonald, president of the Doe Fund. "We fell in love with the facility in Port Morris."

With the added space, Back Office plans to get more clients for its mailing service. It will then be able to accept more people into the work program, which has 12 workers in the mailing center -- four full-time employees and eight Ready, Willing & Able trainees.

Through Ready, Willing & Able, Doe Fund officials say they strive to teach homeless people, many of whom have minimal or no work histories, how to become reliable, responsible and hard-working. People who can get and keep good-paying jobs will have an easier time tackling problems like finding housing, staying off drugs and supporting their families, the program's philosophy goes.

Participants in the nine- to 12-month work program are given room and board at the Doe Fund shelters in Harlem or Brooklyn and paid $5.50 an hour to clean sidewalks and streets, rehab housing, prepare meals or staff the data entry and direct mail center. Trainees pay $65 a month in rent, and put $30 in a savings account each week. Graduates of the program are given help finding private-sector jobs and apartments, and their accumulated savings are matched by the Fund. Under the terms of the EZ grant, the Doe Fund will employ at least 76 people at Back Office after three years, with at least half of them empowerment zone residents.

Borough President Fernando Ferrer said this is the best possible economic development strategy for the South Bronx. "We need to get people to come in who are producing jobs," he said. "This will produce nearly 100 jobs. And it's very unique because it targets homeless men and women."

"We are going to have a positive impact on the South Bronx," McDonald predicted. "This is a perfect example of how business and nonprofit can join together to help people move up the economic ladder."

For someone like Garcia, the threat of doing serious prison time over three drug-sales arrests and never being able to see his year-old son scared him. "I forgot who I am, an addict," he admitted. He knew he had to find a way to stay straight.

Derek de Leon, 34. another formerly homeless man, managed to save $ 1,400 by the time he completed the program recently. He used the money to furnish his new apartment in Queens. De Leon, hired by The Doe Fund as a full-time employee, is saving money to buy a car so he can reestablish a relationship with his 4-year-old son, who is living with de Leon's mother in Ohio. "He's mine, and I can take care of him now," he said. "I have a job and a place to live."

This is the sense of purpose the people at The Doe Fund are hoping to impart to people in the program.

"The purpose is to teach people how to work, accept responsibility and follow instruction," said William Spiller, chief operating officer of The Doe Fund since 1995. "Responsibility is placed directly on the individual," he continued. "There is no dependency, no entitlements, no saying society owes me anything.

"People have to accept that they've made mistakes, take responsibility for their actions, and want to change their lives." Said Garcia: "The Doe Fund gives me what I need. They make me feel like I'm somebody. I guess I just needed to grab hold of myself and have a sense of purpose."