Workplace
A Pioneering Social Enterprise
By By Karen Epper Hoffman March 31, 2010
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Through Pioneer Human Services, Michelle Cruzat, a former |
When Michele Cruzat began piecing her life back together
after a five-year-long struggle with crystal meth addiction and multiple
arrests, she knew she needed a safe place to live and a decent, stable job.
But with eight felony convictions and more than a dozen jail
stays, this former respiratory therapist had good reason to wonder who would
hire her. The answer came while she was staying at the residential facility (an
alternative to jail for drug offenders) run by Pioneer Human Services. This
Seattle-based nonprofit offers a range of employment, job training and
permanent housing alongside more traditional wraparound services such as
behavioral and drug treatment, short-term and outpatient housing, and
transitional housing for recently released inmates. Cruzat began basic job
training in January 2008, and shortly thereafter, started working at one of
Pioneers plants, which makes cargo liners for Boeing Co.
I worked at proving myself. … Its been a huge boost for
me, says Cruzat, who since has become an on-the-job trainer and moved to
permanent housing in a three-bedroom apartment in one of Pioneers buildings in
Auburn, where her two children are finally able to live with her.
Pioneer Human Services was founded 46 years ago by Jack
Dalton, a former lawyer convicted of embezzlement, who believed the best way to
help former convicts and recovering addicts was to provide them decent
employment and a safe dwelling. To meet its mission, Pioneer operates as a
social enterprise nonprofit, says CEO Steve Schwalb. The company generates
all its own revenue through its work contracts and rental income.
Were completely self-supporting. And the people we serve
are learning what it takes to become a stably employed and housed contributing
member of society, says Schwalb, who landed at Pioneer in April 2007 after a
34-year career running county jails and federal prisons.
The programs serve about 12,000 people every year, nearly
300 of whom are program employees. Pioneer has three main enterprises spread
across a number of plants and facilities, which, in turn, contract with and
support a variety of the areas largest companies. In manufacturing, Pioneer
runs plants where workers make Kevlar cargo liners and fabricate precision
sheet metal for Boeing, assemble oven parts for Hobart Food Systems, cut thick
metal parts for Genie Lifts and build high-end metal stereo racks for Rane
Corp.
Pioneer also runs large warehouses in Kent and Algona that
handle packaging and distribution for clients including Nintendo, Made in
Washington, Scientific Explorer and Sasquatch Books. Here, the workers
typically break up and repackage or reconfigure separate pallets of items and
ship them out. In its food service business, Pioneers staff handles wholesale
buying for food banks and senior homes in seven western states and also
prepares food directly at one of Pioneers kitchens for local clients like West
Seattle Psychiatric Hospital and Senior Services of King County. Schwalb says
Pioneer delivers more than 1 million meals a year, many of which necessitate
strict dietary requirements. Under its Mezza Cafe name, Pioneer also operates
a restaurant in Seattle and another in Bellevue where program employees prepare
basic luncheon staples like soups, salads and sandwiches.
The manufacturing work in particular requires skill and
training: as an airplane manufacturer, Boeings standards are exacting and
require AS9100 certification (the highest standard in the aerospace business);
the cargo hold protectorswhich Pioneer has an exclusive contract to build and
which Cruzat helps makeare cut as jigsaw-type pieces that then have to be fit
together, with little room for error. The skills and work ethic training that
employees receive gives them the added experience they need to eventually move
into jobs at other companies.
And, while the primary mission is serving the program
personnel who are trained and employed there, Schwalb underscores that Pioneers
goal is to meet or exceed market standards in competing for work. Pioneer pays
its employees the same wage any person doing a similar job at another company
would earn. In return, Schwalb and his team expect a high level of performance.
Such dependability keeps high-profile clients like Boeing and Nintendo coming
back. Schwalb says when he presents before a group of business professionals,
People start off not knowing much about our overall mission, just that we can
meet their price, quality and delivery standards.
George Sheppard, president and CEO of Rane Corp., says that
as much as he appreciates Pioneers overarching mission, its the companys
dedication to detail and support that have kept his firm as a customer for more
than a decade. They have displayed exceptional performance … and have been
really responsive to our demands, Sheppard says, describing the organization
as better-run than most of its competitors.
Pioneer employees recently discovered that
parts fabricated for Rane would not fit together, catching the problem and
fixing it before the inaccurate parts were shippeda mistake that could have
otherwise cost Rane the opportunity to participate in an industry show in
Germany. They are willing to drop everything and help us out, Sheppard says.
They would not have our business if they didnt do a good job at a competitive
price.