A new pilot program that aims to help homeless families in Orange and Osceola counties officially launched Friday.
- Program helps families find homes, jobs
- Some jobs will be in construction, service industries
- Program plans to help 45 families at first
The program, called Impact Families, is a collaborative effort between those counties, Goodwill Industries of Central Florida, The Central Florida Commission on Homelessness and other businesses in the area.
The pilot program helps families find housing, then matches them with a job placement coordinator at Goodwill Industries of Central Florida.
Nearly two dozen people were in attendance Friday morning to hear local leaders like Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs talk about the new program.
Some of the jobs offered could be in construction and the service industry. They hope to help about 45 families.
"We need to start off with a small population to make sure we are providing the best services, the right services to help these families," said Jacobs. "It's really important that families we don't know about that are homeless, that they feel comfortable about coming to Goodwill even if they don't make it into this pilot program."
Now that the pilot program has officially launched, organizations will start to reach out to families in the community.
If the pilot is successful, the organizations plan to expand their services and help even more families.