The ‘Mano y Mano Day Labor’ program in Las Cruces, New Mexico, provides paid work opportunities for those who are unhoused or near homeless. The program, which has been in operation since 2018, offers labor jobs mainly in landscaping, litter pickup, and cleaning up abandoned camps.
Each day, a lottery draw selects 20 people out of the 75-100 who sign up for work opportunities. Workers are not required to be homeless, but those who are homeless are referred to as ‘regulars.’ The shifts are five hours long, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., after the daily lottery selection.
People who are not picked but show up three days in a row are given vouchers to be automatically selected on their fourth day. After the day’s shift, workers are paid and sign their name to show they worked, in an effort to keep things fair. Workers are only allowed to work in the program once a week due to high demand.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
