Housing authority goes beyond homes

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The Orange Housing Authority hosted an Information Expo on Thursday, March 6, in the community room of the Walter G. Alexander Village complex on Wilson Place.

“We invited a number of different community organizations to speak to people so they can find jobs, get health care, counseling, talk to PSE&G and other agencies that provide services,” Orange Housing Authority Executive Director Walter McNeil said.

The agencies at the expo included:

• La Casa de Don Pedro, which helps with early childhood issues, community empowerment and healthy homes, including home energy assistance, weatherization and lead remediation.

• PSE&G, the utility which was there doing both recruiting and providing assistance with questions about paying bills;

• Greater Essex Counseling Services, which provides help with behavioral problems, substance abuse, and immigration issues.

• The New Jersey Department of Health, which provides a wide range of health related services.

• The National Career Institute, an East Orange based trade school that provides training in health care, construction, HVAC and a variety of other trades.

Orange Councilmember-At-Large Weldon M. Montague III, who worked in the Department of Labor for 30 years, was at the event.

Montague is a member of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he has coordinated the Hire Ground Career Services Program since 2016. The program helps people get jobs, drug counseling, educational referrals, and a GED.

Montague said he has worked with National Career Institute in the past and found it to be an excellent resource.

“I do a lot of job training across the city and they help a lot of people,” Montague said of NCI. “They can change your life.”

Montague said a holistic approach to housing is important.

“What we try to do is get you healthy and whole,” Montague said. “Just giving someone a job doesn’t help. You have to get rid of the problem.”

Latisha Singley works in the housing authority office and she said the number of people coming in looking for help with housing has been steadily increasing.

“A lot of people are struggling, trying to find shelter, pay for it, pay the security deposit,” Singley said.

Montague said having a job, a home and being able to take care of yourself is particularly important right now.

“If you are working and self-sufficient, the things happening in Washington, D.C. won’t trickle down to you,” Montague said.

  Housing Expo, Orange