A New Approach to Social Welfare: How St. Vincent de Paul Society Creates Sustainable Communities

By turning trash into revenue-producing businesses, St. Vincent de Paul Society (Lane County, Oregon) is simultaneously creating jobs for the unemployed and providing needed services to more than 84,000 people each year. St. Vincent de Paul's "triple bottom line" model involves the following: • Serving the unemployed, homeless, disabled, and those struggling with substance abuse, and who often present complex physical and mental health problems. • Reclaiming materials such as mattresses, appliances and books from the waste stream and recycling them for reuse or sale. • Providing training, jobs, and health security to the hardest to employ—ex-offenders, the chronically homeless, and other at-risk populations. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is helping to replicate this hybrid business-social welfare model in new communities across the country. Learn how to adopt this program in your community: http://rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/program...