Transportation for Hope Center residents is getting easier thanks to a partnership with Uber.
Uber presented New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer a check for $10,000 that will provide rideshare credits for Hope Center residents.
The credits will allow the residents to go to work, school, doctor’s appointments, job interviews and more.
Meyer says this is a big help for residents.
"Even when there's bus service - if people know DART in Delaware which provides a tremendous service - by using Uber you're cutting sometimes an hour and a half commute into a 10-15 minute commute. That can make all the difference in the world between success and failure in the workplace,” said Meyer. “And I like to say we're not just trying to get people jobs here, we're trying to get them careers, and short transportation is a large part of that."
One resident planning to take advantage of the Uber credits is an emotional and appreciative Sandra Watson - a Hope Center resident since December.
"Not only work, I go to school as well, so getting the Uber back and forth to my school ends at 8:00 at night. I would need to be able to go get my daughter to get back here, be able to get her down and ready for school the next day," said Watson.
Watson calls her experience at the Hope Center awesome saying everyone has helped her and her daughter so much.
This program starts immediately at the Hope Center.
Uber’s Delaware policy manager Freddi Goldstein explains how it will work.
"We'll set the Hope Center up with a corporate account, and we will transfer the funds into that account. And then they will be able to schedule rides either ahead of time or on demand depending on what the need is here,” said Goldstein. “It's a really simple system. We did a training with them. We walked them through the database, and we're ready to get started."
Goldstein notes this program is modeled after other Uber partnerships with the Salvation Army and a Girl Scout troop in New York City that works with girls in the shelter system to help them get to events.
