Thursday, March 17, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.
A city program to provide job training, housing and counseling for homeless alcohol abusers was given a a preliminary endorsement Wednesday by the Las Vegas City Council.
The project would expand the Educational and Vocational Opportunities Leading to Valuable Experiences program, or EVOLVE, which has helped 263 ex-convicts with job training, housing and counseling since it was launched in June 2003.
City Neighborhood Services Director Orlando Sanchez said formal approval of the expansion will come when, and if, the council approves funding for the program in the budget for the fiscal year that begins in July.
With the expansion, the EVOLVE program would work closer with Metro Police's Habitual Offender Prevention and Education program, called HOPE. That program targets people who commit crimes because they abuse alcohol. It offers housing, counseling, employment assistance and addiction treatment.
EVOLVE is expected to cost at least $600,000 for the coming fiscal year. Sanchez said they hope to receive state and federal funding for the program, which so far has been paid for with federal funds.
During the Wednesday council meeting, city elected leaders, staff, and some ex-convicts who went through EVOLVE spoke glowingly of the program that boasts a relatively low recidivism rate for those who pass through the program. Participants are taught a variety of basic life skills, from interviewing for jobs to writing resumes.
Lisa Getman, 38, credited EVOLVE with putting her on a career path when she thought she would be stuck with low-paying jobs for the rest of her life.
Getman was released from prison in October 2002 after serving almost two years for her conviction on trafficking and manufacturing methamphetamine charges. Getman said she was lucky to have family support in Las Vegas, but had a tough time finding work and eventually landed a minimum-wage job at a sandwich shop.
A little over a year later Getman went to EVOLVE.
"As soon as I met with EVOLVE things turned around for me," Getman said. "At the point that I met them I was so discouraged I felt that was it for me and there was no way for a career."
But thanks to the job training she received through EVOLVE, Getman learned basic computer skills and got a job as a receptionist.
Lisa Morris, who as city neighborhood initiatives manager oversees EVOLVE, said the goal of the program and the proposed expanded program is to reduce jail costs, arrests and public nuisances.
"To end the revolving door for the chronic inebriates," Morris said.
Mayor Oscar Goodman said he couldn't think of a program "that has been more successful. Everybody should be in favor of this program."
EVOLVE, which has a staff of eight, has seen about 1,600 ex-convicts, although most did not enter into the intensive program and instead used the program's referral service or computer lab briefly, Morris said. Of the 263 ex-convicts that have gone through the program, their recidivism rate, or the percentage of those who return to crime, has been 9 percent, whereas the national average is about 66 percent, according to city figures.
Morris said another positive statistic is that 76 percent of those who went through EVOLVE's program, which can last up to 18 months, kept their new jobs for at least six months.
"Two years ago this program didn't exist and people were lost on the streets," Morris said.
Morris said expanding the program and working closer with Metro's HOPE program "just made sense" because although they targeted slightly different populations in the past, the needs of their clients are similar.
Councilman Lawrence Weekly said the program and expansion of the program will address problems faced by ex-convicts trying to re-enter the workforce and society, problems that affect the entire city.
EVOLVE's office is at 1951 Stella Lake Drive, which is near the intersection of Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards. EVOLVE staff can be contacted at 638-6371.
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