Project Self-Sufficiency Project Launch Newton At Halsted Middle School

The HOW program is an abysmal failure and Cora should be fired. The HOW program promised professional externships after you sit through there computer classes. They start the externships late, tell you before the externships that you have to put in so many hours every week, but because they irresponsibly start the externships late you can’t get the hours done because the site they assign you to for the externship is not open enough hours a day to get your externship done in the time allocated. I complained to my teachers about everything going wrong at my externship and they said to speak to Cora. Cora was supposed to fix everything but she never did. Also, be aware that by professional externships that mean things like dog walking, cleaning, serving tea and nothing that has anything to do with the computer work you do in class. The students are basically being exploited as cheap unpaid labor by the externship sites. Only one person from my class actually got a job and the job she got was part time at Walmart. I know because people from the class stayed friends afterward. They are only concerned with getting women to sign up for the class and they are not concerned at all with the success of you as a student. The reason they are allowed to call what the students attend externships, is because there’s currently no standards in the United States for externships the way there is for internships so they found a loophole where they can take donations from donors without having to meet any standards where the work sites can exploit the students from the HOW program as free, cheap labor. Many of the students at the HOW programs had problems with their externships and Cora is in charge of fixing the problems but never did.

This organization has services for people that are seeking help. I attended the computer free training classes they offered and requested a case manager. Case Manager never called until after days later I had to complain about not receiving a call and assistance on information I needed knowing. I decided to asked another source that was able to assist me outside this center. The case manager supervisor that I requested she was very rude and told me that the case manager that was assigned to me that I was not comfortable with after our conversation she still stated I had to accept that worker and if not I will not be able to attend the training classes. I am retired and was just going to have something to do and not be home. I accepted I will not bend and accept someone I am not comfortable with and if it the case of not accepting to attend a free class I am fine with my decision and happy. My point of this review is to let the future clients that are seeking help just be careful of the workers that behavior very unprofessional. One should not have to wait for days and worker is aware of the need of the clients, it other clients that are facing the same situation and will not say anything I understand their situation I wish them well. 🙏🏾

I had the opportunity to volunteer for a morning at their summer camp career day. From the minute I step onto their campus to the very last segment of my presentation I felt welcomed the entire time. Everything was extremely organized and I couldn’t help but be grateful for what PSS is doing for our community and way beyond that.

Amazing organization that offers a wide variety of services, a great team of staff and many opportunities for families. Highly recommend!!

First said they couldn't help my homeless family when on the verge of being shelterless due to circumstances beyond our control with a 1 year old and infant due in a couple months. Then the woman called me back saying she spoke with the supervisor and could probably help in some way. Took my information and told me she'd call back in 24hrs to let me know which way they could help, even if it were helping us get our car back so we could live in that. It's been over 3 weeks with no response despite my contacting them. Hope shouldn't be given to families in dire situations if they're going to leave them without shelter or answers. Update: Still have not heard back about assistance over 1 year later.