PHASE Program: Project for Homemakers in Arizona Seeking Employment

	impact
		The University of Arizona
of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
	Society-Ready Graduates PHASE Program: Project for Homemakers in Arizona Seeking Employment Issue Unemployed single and/or displaced homemakers and women who have been incarcerated often don’t know where to begin in finishing their education, finding a job, and building a career in general. As welfare eligibility tightens, there is a greater need than ever before for strategies to assist people in moving from welfare to work. What has been done? The PHASE program (The Project for Homemakers in Arizona Seeking Employment) began in 1978 to assist low income women with their job search. The program has expanded and now provides career assessment; job search and nontraditional employment workshops; pre-apprenticeship training in highway construction; basic computer skills classes; assistance with education/training; and job placement. In 2001 PHASE began working cooperatively with Tucson Medical Center’s LEAP program to help long-term welfare recipients enter the workforce. PHASE provides the first two days of preparation for the participants extension education plan for cotton growers that includes bulletins, reports, articles and grower meetings. Impact Federal and local funders have recognized the importance of this program, which has a 95 percent training and/or job placement rate. PHASE has assisted more than 6,000 single parents, displaced homemakers and incarcerated women in Pima County since 1978. About 15 percent of its clients continue their studies at the UA, and to date, these students have a 100 percent graduation success rate. It has become a national model for similar programs throughout the U.S. In 2000 the program assisted incarcerated women in particular, with job skills, nontraditional employment, and basic computer skills. “Within weeks of becoming a widow, I was meeting regularly with the PHASE director. I learned that skills I had developed as a homemaker and a community volunteer translated into employability. In October I completed the PHASE Basic Computer Skills Class. In January I became employed at the University of Arizona. Without the support and training I have been given from PHASE, I would still be stumbling along feeling very sorry for myself.” —PHASE graduate *Funding* Pima County Community Services Arizona Department of Transportation The Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona The Stocker Foundation Community Foundation for Southern Arizona School of Family and Consumer Sciences, UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences The West La Paz Foundation Resource Exchange Community donors *Contact* Diane Wilson, Director PHASE Program The University of Arizona 1230 N. Park, #209 Tucson, AZ 85721 Tel.: (520) 621-3902, Fax: (520) 621-5008 Email: phase@ag.arizona.edu Return to the Title Page Return to the Table of Contents