A home is where it starts. Workforce Readiness is Razing the Bar’s career and economic pathway: paid work experience, training, and steady steps toward a career and a lease in your own name.
A stable place to live, with a Community Mentor beside you.
02
Get ready.
Goals, a résumé, documents, and a plan for school and work.
03
Paid experience.
A paid placement through a County, City, or community workforce program.
04
Build skills.
Training and certificates toward a career, including community health work.
05
Step into a career.
A steady job and an income that can carry a lease of their own.
How it connects
Built with the workforce system.
Razing the Bar does not run the workforce programs. We connect young adults to them, and we serve as a host site where interns gain paid experience with a mentor beside them.
The San José Silicon Valley Workforce Development Board, branded as work2future, is housed in the City of San José’s Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs (work2future, 2025). It is the local workforce development board for central and southern Santa Clara County (work2future, n.d.).
A Bay Area nonprofit that prepares young people for work and life through paid internships, job-skills workshops, and one-on-one support.
Razing the Bar as a host site
The first job is here.
Interns placed through our collaborators work at Razing the Bar’s office at the Sobrato Center for Nonprofits, alongside the team that runs our homes, our mentoring, and the Friday Community Market.
Real work.Operations, community programs, and the everyday work of running homes.
A supervisor and a mentor.Someone who teaches the job, and someone who knows the person.
A path in community health work.Experience that builds toward a career in community health.
A reference that counts.A record of work that opens the next door.
Why it belongs in housing
Employment is a housing service.
Under the HUD Continuum of Care Program, employment assistance and job training are eligible supportive services.
“(6) Employment assistance and job training. The costs of establishing and operating employment assistance and job training programs are eligible, including classroom, online and/or computer instruction, on-the-job instruction, services that assist individuals in securing employment, acquiring learning skills, and/or increasing earning potential. The cost of providing reasonable stipends to program participants in employment assistance and job training programs is also an eligible cost.” (24 C.F.R. § 578.53(e)(6))
Questions
Straight answers.
Who can take part?
Young adults living in Razing the Bar’s housing work with their Community Mentor to find the right program. Each collaborator sets its own eligibility: the County’s Intern & Earn program serves youth in CalWORKs and the foster care program (County of Santa Clara, 2017).
Is the work paid?
Yes, for placements through Intern & Earn and New Door Ventures. Intern & Earn runs in cohorts of up to 8 weeks, with up to 30 hours of work per week at a pre-approved hourly rate (County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency, n.d.).
Who is the employer?
The program that places you. For Intern & Earn, the County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency is the employer of record and handles job development, placement, and payroll (County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency, n.d.). Razing the Bar is the host site where the work happens.
How do I start?
Living in our housing? Ask your Community Mentor. Looking for housing first? Start with Get Help.
Can my organization host an intern or hire a graduate?
WORKFORCE READINESS
A paycheck.
A path. A career.
A home is where it starts. Workforce Readiness is Razing the Bar’s career and economic pathway: paid work experience, training, and steady steps toward a career and a lease in your own name.
Earn while
you learn.
A home first.
A stable place to live, with a Community Mentor beside you.
Get ready.
Goals, a résumé, documents, and a plan for school and work.
Paid experience.
A paid placement through a County, City, or community workforce program.
Build skills.
Training and certificates toward a career, including community health work.
Step into a career.
A steady job and an income that can carry a lease of their own.
Built with the
workforce system.
Razing the Bar does not run the workforce programs. We connect young adults to them, and we serve as a host site where interns gain paid experience with a mentor beside them.
Who we work with.
Intern & Earn
Paid work experience for youth in CalWORKs and the foster care program (County of Santa Clara, 2017). The County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency is the employer of record and handles job development, placement, and payroll (County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency, n.d.).
work2future
The San José Silicon Valley Workforce Development Board, branded as work2future, is housed in the City of San José’s Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs (work2future, 2025). It is the local workforce development board for central and southern Santa Clara County (work2future, n.d.).
New Door Ventures
A Bay Area nonprofit that prepares young people for work and life through paid internships, job-skills workshops, and one-on-one support.
The first job
is here.
Interns placed through our collaborators work at Razing the Bar’s office at the Sobrato Center for Nonprofits, alongside the team that runs our homes, our mentoring, and the Friday Community Market.
Employment is a
housing service.
Under the HUD Continuum of Care Program, employment assistance and job training are eligible supportive services.
Straight answers.
Who can take part?
Young adults living in Razing the Bar’s housing work with their Community Mentor to find the right program. Each collaborator sets its own eligibility: the County’s Intern & Earn program serves youth in CalWORKs and the foster care program (County of Santa Clara, 2017).
Is the work paid?
Yes, for placements through Intern & Earn and New Door Ventures. Intern & Earn runs in cohorts of up to 8 weeks, with up to 30 hours of work per week at a pre-approved hourly rate (County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency, n.d.).
Who is the employer?
The program that places you. For Intern & Earn, the County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency is the employer of record and handles job development, placement, and payroll (County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency, n.d.). Razing the Bar is the host site where the work happens.
How do I start?
Living in our housing? Ask your Community Mentor. Looking for housing first? Start with Get Help.
Can my organization host an intern or hire a graduate?
Yes. Reach out through Collaborate With Us.
Two ways
in.
Host an intern. Hire a graduate.
Open a placement, offer a first job, or bring your workforce program to the young adults in our homes.
Ready to work?
Living in our housing? Ask your Community Mentor. Looking for housing first? Start with Get Help.
From a first shift
to a career.
Your gift goes to the Open Door Fund, wherever the need is greatest.
References
Continuum of Care Program, 24 C.F.R. § 578.53 (2026). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/24/578.53
County of Santa Clara. (2017, July 28). County of Santa Clara celebrates accomplishments of Intern & Earn summer program. https://news.santaclaracounty.gov/node/5081
County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency. (n.d.). Intern & Earn program [CalWORKs program handbook]. https://stgenssa.sccgov.org/debs/program_handbooks/calworks/assets/52EmpServReferrals/InternEarnProgram.htm
work2future. (n.d.). Board + committees. https://www.work2future.org/board/
work2future. (2025). Local plan 2025–2028 [Final draft]. San José Silicon Valley Workforce Development Board. https://www.work2future.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/IVC_PY25-PY28_WIOA_LocalPlan_FinalDraft.pdf