VETS 8 | Ronald Allix, Homeless No More

Ronald Allix, 46, Was
Homeless in Detroit

Army Veteran Ronald Allix was laid off from his auto factory job during  the 2008 financial crisis.

His personal problems became crushing. He became:

• divorced, 
• homeless 
• desperate

Last month, Allix and 13 other Veterans aged between 25 and 60 graduated from the Blight Removal and Heavy Equipment Training Program at the Detroit Training Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. It sounds a lot like the successful training program at the NJISJ in Newark.

All of the trainees were placed in Detroit area jobs. Allix has earned Michigan State licenses in asbestos and lead abatement and a certificate in heavy equipment operation. He has been hired as a construction laborer paying $12.75 an hour. He is preparing to move out of the shelter.

Allix applied for the program after seeing a flyer at Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, which received a grant of $300,000 through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program in 2013. He sums up the outcome of his training succinctly as follows:

This was a life-changing experience for me. Without the program I would likely still be stuck because I didn't have a clear path in mind to get into anything else.

Patrick Beal, CEO of the Detroit Training Center, says: "Veterans are great candidates for job placement [because] they are disciplined and eager to learn new skills." Click Here for More Information