Miami shelter going beyond basic needs, giving homeless people job training

For 27-year-old Chris Benham, working for a Miami food distributor isn’t just a job, it’s a life-changer. Only months ago, he was homeless and living out of his car.

“One of the hardest things that any homeless person goes through is the constant disrespect that they get from every person that is walking the street or driving. Yeah, it sucks being on the street,” Benham told CBS News.

So he turned to Chapman Partnership, a shelter in Miami that is doing more than just providing a warm meal and a place to stay.

“I thought it was just going to be like every other shelter that I’ve been to, where they really didn’t give a care about the people, but that was not the case,” he said.

Chapman Partnership CEO Symeria Hudson told CBS News that providing warm meals, shelter and clothes is not enough.

“We do believe that once we settle on your basic needs, we need to give you more,” Hudson said.

Like Benham, everyone who comes through the shelter is assigned a case manager to monitor their progress through classes for highly-skilled jobs.

Hudson said that 20% of the homeless there aren’t jobless, but they can’t afford to make ends meet, and more than 40% are families with children, who also attend classes including banking courses.

“Our goal is to make sure they don’t come back as an adult,” Hudson said.

The assistance does require an investment from the community. The Chapman Partnership’s 800 beds and programs are largely funded by a county food and beverage tax. Hudson also fundraises, bringing her Harvard Business degree and experience in the corporate world to a cause that’s also personal — her uncle, Billy Ray Bland, died homeless.

“By the time he came in from the streets, it was too late,” Hudson said.

But it wasn’t too late for people like Benham, who feels good about his future.

“The future is, hopefully, staying with this company and actually growing in it,” he said.