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Providing self-sufficiency training to residents
The Salvation Army in Santa Barbara is partnering with Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) to offer a continued education program to residents of the Army’s local transitional living center, Hospitality House.
“We are excited to have this new relationship with our local city college and hope it is just the beginning of greater opportunities,” said Captain Jill Steiner, corps officer of the Santa Barbara Corps. “The more we are able to equip our residents with tools that help them succeed in life, the more successful they will be when they transition back into society.”
Hospitality House assistant director, Donald “Mick” Twomey, a former student of SBCC, contacted his previous professors and initiated the program.
“This is a valuable addition to our Life Skills curriculum,” Twomey said. “The SBCC instructors are top notch and it is obvious that the training will help our clients in their programs towards self-sufficiency.”
Located in downtown Santa Barbara, the 65-bed transitional living facility provides a safe and structured program for homeless men and women from the community needing to rebuild their lives.
A curriculum of classes, specifically developed for Hospitality House residents by Wake Center (SBCC continuing education program) Director Ann Cameron Wiley, is offered at no cost and is open to the public, including eight-week sessions on anger management and interpersonal communication.
Hired by the very Salvation Army where he found his own recovery 11 years ago, Twomey said he knows what the residents are going through and is doing everything possible to reintegrate them into mainstream society.
“I know from experience that these classes expose the residents to things that they may have missed because of the other problems in their lives,” Twomey said. “God has a plan for everyone and the Life Skills classes our residents attend are a part of that plan.”
