FISH Emergency Referral Services Program

The biggest issues right now in our region have to do with housing and with our business environment. The recent economic downturn stifled construction in our region and brought with it the nation’s highest mortgage foreclosure rates and unemployment. Now that the economy has improved, our recently unemployed, who are just happy to have a job, are underemployed… accepting the “low hanging fruit” of minimum wage jobs. In addition, the demand for housing is high, and supply is low… driving up rental rates by 50-80%. Ironically, our business environment is booming, but they can’t find locals with the right skills, and employees recruited from outside the region, can’t find housing. As a result, multiple local organizations have become motivated to implement a fix to these problems.

Our collaborating partners will be working to move our low-income clients from menial jobs to meaningful careers, boosting their incomes, freeing up low-income housing, and helping local employers expand their workforce. Clients with the appropriate academic skills and with solid work history will be asked to quit their jobs and pursue education at our local college.

The FISH Revitalization Project is a multifaceted program where FISH is revitalizing Carson City's
downtown, workforce, and families. FISH recently bought the Whistle Stop Inn on N. Carson St. with plans to
demolish and renovate the buildings into family dormitories for our new workforce development program
called "Fast Forward 4 Families", where we are providing full-ride family scholarships for tech training so
that they can move from minimum wage to meaningful careers. Our partners include Western Nevada College
(and others), providing the “formal education,” the Capital City C.I.R.C.L.E.S. Initiative program developing the
team skills/people skills/relationship skills, and FISH providing the stability of housing, food, on-the-job
training, and other support as needed. The certificate programs being offered include manufacturing,
construction, automotive, welding, HVAC, information technology, and healthcare. We are working with other
organizations to provide interviewing and other job skills. We are also partnering with the Northern Nevada
Development Authority (NNDA), which will function as the liaison with our regional employers. Applicants
will be assessed and coached to find the best-suited career path. We will provide education and services to all
family members housed to have the greatest impact on generational poverty. Our team will provide multiple
touchpoints to keep the students and their family members on track. Following their successful employment,
graduates will help recruit, market, and refine our process to bring in the next wave of students. The Nevada
Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation has requested that we do data collection on this
program so they can determine creative ways to roll it out in other counties.

Our track record is a good one: FISH recently spearheaded the design and concept of Richard’s Crossing, which we handed over to the Rural Nevada Housing Authority. This 39-unit apartment complex primarily for veterans and the disabled was funded with federal government dollars. The project was a great success, but the government funding did not allow us to drive the residents through our other programs, so they could change behaviors and their lives.

This time, we are looking at private funding. We are currently purchasing an outdated motel that sits on one acre of land... one block away from our main FISH campus. It is near schools, food stores, medical facilities and is about three miles from our college campus. FISH has gotten great regional support for previous campaigns to raise money. In the last six years we have purchased three buildings, and paid off a $1.75 million mortgage that we had on our main campus.