City Jobs

City Jobs is a program of the Lamb Center in partnership with the City of Fairfax and Fairfax County. The City Jobs Program creates an employment opportunity for individuals that meets them where they are and seeks to empower them to reach their greatest employment potential. Here are some key points about this “Transitional Work Program” and what it offers our guests:

• The program pays 20 individuals $10 an hour for working from 8am to 12pm two days a week.
• We work with the City of Fairfax Department of Parks and Recreation. Our team helps to maintain city parks through leaf removal, snow removal, landscaping and others tasks as assigned. The City of Fairfax has $60,000 allocated in their annual budget to help fund this program.
• Fairfax County's Operation Stream Shield was launched in October 2019 to help improve water quality in streams and provide dignity in work to people experiencing homelessness. It has doubled the number of individuals given the opportunity to participate in our program.
• City Jobs functions similarly to day labor programs but a big difference is that once an individual receives one of the 10 spots, they are able to keep that spot so long as they show up for work on time. If a worker does not show up on time for work and fails to communicate their absence they lose their active spot and are placed on the bottom of the waiting list.
• Many individuals have registered for the program and they are eager to work as soon as an opening is available. For this reason, this program is not open to anyone except for Lamb Center guests at this time. We do hope that we will expand in the future and allow for others outside of the Lamb Center to be able to join.
• The goal of the program is to help individuals graduate to a full-time or part time job in conjunction with housing opportunities. We look to engage any individual including those who are struggling with mental illness, intellectual disabilities, addiction and/or a criminal record.
• Once an individual has worked ten work days in a row, a recommendation letter is written for them to give to prospective employers. Once graduated, they understand that their conduct as an employee impacts the reputation of the program and the opportunity for future workers to gain employment.
• So far, we have had twelve workers graduate and move on to other employment opportunities.