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Project Place social enterprise Clean Corners expands into three Boston neighborhoods

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Monday Dec 12, 2016

Project Place announces today that Clean Corners...Bright Hopes, its facilities maintenance social enterprise program, has contracted with the city of Boston and Boston University to maintain the neighborhood of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue. Clean Corners employees have been in place in the neighborhood since October and have been picking up street litter and used needles and syringes as well as maintaining planters at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Southampton Street.

Clean Corners is an economic development initiative created in response to the immense challenges involved with assisting people who are homeless achieve self-sufficiency. Project Place clients must apply for employment with Clean Corners, and they are eligible to access support that help them obtain permanent housing and other services that help stabilize their lives. They receive intense training and are a highly visible, positive presence in the neighborhoods they serve. They are paid hourly, and graduate from Clean Corners with skills that transfer directly to a variety of industries, including custodial services, facilities maintenance, waste management, and landscaping.

"Clean Corners is a social program that works. It's an affordable option for urban communities that want to keep their neighborhoods and business districts clean, and employees learn valuable skills through on-the-job training that they can later use to obtain mainstream employment," said Suzanne Kenney, Executive Director of Project Place. "But what's so impressive about our work in the Melnea Cass Boulevard area is that our employees are also acting like ambassadors for independence. Over the course of a week, our Clean Corners employees field about 30 questions from area residents about how they can find employment and get help with housing and substance use recovery services."

Members of the Clean Corners crew working in the Melnea Cass Boulevard neighborhood have received additional, specialized training so that they may also contribute to the City of Boston's outreach to vulnerable residents of the neighborhood. They have been trained in basic first aid and how to administer Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses, as well as how to field the numerous requests for assistance that they are receiving from area residents.

"When we all come together, we can take on the toughest of challenges," Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said. "I'm looking forward to seeing the results of this partnership that provides opportunities to those who need it most."

Clean Corners also recently contracted with Washington Gateway Main Street and the Chinatown Main Street Association. Other Clean Corners clients have included the Boston Red Sox, City Year, Cristo Rey School, and the New England Holocaust Memorial/Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

About Project Place
Founded in 1967, Project Place has provided hope and opportunity to homeless and low-income individuals in the Greater Boston Area for 48 years. The nonprofit is a supportive community that provides the education and resources needed to obtain stable employment and housing. The agency manages social enterprises (small businesses with a social mission) that offer employment opportunities and job training programs, career services, transitional and permanent housing, and case management support to help those experiencing homelessness reestablish themselves in society with dignity. For more information on these and other programs, visit projectplace.org; follow us on Twitter at @Project_Place and on Instagram at @ProjectPlaceBoston; or "like" us on Facebook.