Carson City’s FISH is housing, training underemployed individuals in technical careers the community desperately needs

Carson City is facing the same problems other growing communities throughout the nation are: a lack of affordable housing which in turn is causing a gap in the workforce for important careers that require technical training. 


But Carson City’s Friends In Service Helping (FISH) has come up with a solution that helps in a multi-faceted, community-oriented way. 


Through FISH’s program “Fast Forward 4 Families,” FISH is providing full scholarships in technical training to Carson City’s Western Nevada College for motivated individuals who are already employed, but lack certain skills to move out of poverty and away from minimum wage jobs. 


Additionally, FISH will provide free housing to individuals as they progress through their certification training, so long as once they're finished, they pay it forward by helping others achieve success.


“We want to help people move from minimum wage to meaningful careers,” said Jim Peckham, Executive Director of FISH. 


Together with WNC, C.I.R.C.L.E.S., Health and Human Services, and the Northern Nevada Development Authority, FISH is taking its next step in community help. 


The FISH Revitalization Project, under which Fast Forward 4 Families operates, is focused on revitalizing not only families and the workforce, but the community as a whole. 


According to Peckham, employers that want to grow within our community are finding that there’s simply not enough people in the region who are certified for technical work. Recruiting from outside the region has its own challenges, and there’s not enough housing for those people to move here to work. 


FISH purchased the Whistle Stop Inn property on Carson Street down the street from FISH, which they have plans to bulldoze in approximately 15 months in order to build an apartment building containing 36 units. 24 units will have two bedrooms and 12 units will have one bedroom, and will house not only the program participants but other students from WNC as well who will rent their units separately from the program. 


According to Peckham, there are people who are motivated and want to go to college, but while working one or two jobs at minimum wage jobs, barely making end's meat, they don’t have the time or the money to go to college. 


“We take all of those burdens and obstacles away,” said Peckham. 


Participants will be selected based on having a high school diploma or equivalent and an interest in pursuing technical training, with a good work history. Participants will be assessed at WNC for math and reading to make sure they qualify to attend college, and then the program will cover all of their bills and place them in housing while they are enrolled in school. 


Technical training avenues include IT, manufacturing, healthcare and construction. They also have plans to work with the Electrical Union and the Plumbing Union to help them recruit and maintain apprentices. 


Once they receive their technical certification, they will help them find affordable housing. 


“This is a fast forward, not an end game,” said Peckham. “(After technical training) we’ll get them in the door with corporations with an essential job where they will have benefits, tuition reimbursement, exposure to other training, where they will be able to decide for themselves whether they are content at that level or if they want to continue to pursue other things.”


The idea is that while some of these participants are in low-income housing, moving them into transitional housing and then helping them find affordable housing will free up the low-income housing for others to take advantage of. 


Once participants graduate, they are expected to help “pay it forward,” said Peckham, by becoming a mentor for other participants. 


One woman, Sarah, has already graduated from the program and it has drastically changed her life. 


Sarah was introduced to FISH after losing custody of her children due to addiction. Sarah spent two years in FISH’s transitional housing program, but found that she was unable to support her family on a minimum wage job alone. 


Due to her academic aptitude and her drive to succeed, she was offered to be the first candidate of the project, according to Peckham. 


The program didn’t change her life alone, but the lives of her two daughters as well. They began mimicking her studious behaviors, according to Peckham, and for the first time her 15-year-old daughter began studying with her at the kitchen table. 


Sarah completed the program in manufacturing through WNC and is now working in what Peckham describes as one of the program’s goals: a meaningful career. 


"I haven't been proud of myself in a very long time, but thanks to FISH's help and encouragement, I am at a place I never thought that I would be again,” said Sarah. “The opportunities that I have in front of me are amazing.” 


At the height of the project, the goal is to help approximately 50 people per year make it through the minimum wage job to a meaningful career pipeline. As the program grows, they will expect those who have graduated to take up the responsibility of helping others in the program, through networking, tutoring, mentoring, or even just simple friendship and encouragement. 


“They have a responsibility to help the others,” said Peckham. “That’s what’s expected of them.” 


The program is funded almost entirely by local contributions. Money from the government will account for less than 1 percent of the overall cost. 


They are still in need of additional money to build the apartment complex next year, but will continue helping those who are motivated to succeed until then.