PimaSTART

BizTUCSONJuly 3, 2025

3 minutes read

New Partnership with Gospel Rescue Mission Builds Workforce, Changes Lives

By Tom Leyde

When Charles Sawyer lost his job as a convenience store clerk in Tucson last year, he also lost his home. He had no luck finding a new job and no place to go.

Sawyer heard about the services offered by Gospel Rescue Mission and was accepted there as a guest. “It sounded like a really good opportunity,” he said.

Within a short time, Sawyer was enrolled in culinary skills classes, part of the PimaSTART program–a partnership between GRM and Pima Community College.

PimaSTART also offers fast skills training in information technology, building and construction, logistic management and commercial driver’s license qualification. The program is free for GRM guests who also enroll at PCC. The training can lead to new higher-paying careers, and, in many cases, an end to a life of poverty.

That’s what Sawyer, 56, is working toward. He finished his culinary training six months ago and received a five-year management certification. From there, he completed a 10-week paid internship, working as a barista in GRM’s mobile Coffee Cafe.

GRM, at 4550 S. Palo Verde Rd., is now building a permanent coffee shop across the street, which it plans to open in September. Sawyer hopes he will land a full-time job there.

“I will be getting a car soon and will be out looking for an apartment before too long,” he said. “The program for the culinary school was a big step in the right direction for me. It’s been a godsend for me.”

PimaSTART began in 2021 when philanthropist Humberto S. Lopez of HSL Family Foundation approached PCC’s then-Chancellor Lee Lambert. An agreement was reached in which PCC instructors would incorporate GRM guests at the HSL Center of Opportunity into the college’s certificate for rapid training program.

Lopez presented a $250,000 gift to start the program, which Pima Foundation matched. Donations also came from the Connie Hillman Family Foundation and the Rotary Club of Tucson Foundation. More than $1 million has been donated to PimaSTART since its inception.

“We have made tweaks (in the program), and what a difference it has made for our guests to get a higher paying job,” said Lisa Chastain, CEO of Gospel Rescue Mission.

People have come to PimaSTART with experience only in the fast-food industry, Chastain said. They then gain the opportunity to go into construction or other jobs and free themselves from issues of addiction, mental health problems, legal troubles and spousal abuse.

Nearly 200 people have enrolled in the program and more than 100 people have graduated from PimaSTART. Some results have been quite dramatic. “People have left, getting $110,000 a year driving a truck,” Chastain said. “That’s pretty life changing.”

Ian Roark, PCC vice chancellor for workforce development and innovation, said PimaSTART benefits the college’s central mission, which is “Empowering every learner for every goal every day.”

Amanda Abens, assistant vice chancellor of PCC’s workforce development and lifelong learning, said the GRM-PCC partnership serves the needs of an unhoused population as well as Tucson industry.

“People can be great workers if they have training and support,” she said.

Pima Foundation oversees the finances of PimaSTART. Those funds pay PCC instructors and cover the costs of tuition, supplies and books for PimaSTART students. The college receives no state or federal funding for the program.

“There is no higher service than helping people who are open to take on that responsibility and changing their life for the better.” said Marcy Euler, president and CEO of the Pima Foundation. “It’s pretty amazing for us to be a part of that consortium.”

Euler said there is often a public misconception about who is homeless and why. PimaSTART, she said, “is a lifeline for people to teach them skills. Some who complete the program enroll at PCC and prove to themselves that they can complete an academic program and succeed. There are countless blessings in this program, in my opinion.”

When PimaSTART first began, Euler, Roark and new PCC Chancellor Jeffrey Nasse presented on the program at a national meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges in Nashville, Tenn. It was well received, Euler said. “We have not found anything elsewhere that is this comprehensive.”

“It’s incredible, absolutely incredible, that we have such a good relationship with Pima,” Chastain said. “They’ve been so flexible and pliable to make the program work for our people.”