The Ohio Department of Mental Health has awarded a grant to the Mahoning County Mental Health Board to start a program to assist the area's homeless.

Project for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness is a two county program that utilizes outreach workers in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties to help mentally ill homeless people find housing, employment and substance abuse treatment programs.

The board is working with Trumbull County Lifelines, as well as other Ohio agencies.

The project, which is run by the Help Hotline Crisis Center, is being funded at $72,845 for six months and will be renewed by the state.

Ron Marian, the executive director of the MCMHB, called the grant an "infusion grant" because it helps provide an array of services specifically tailored to the needs of its homeless clients.

"The focus that MCMHB will have is on integrated services," he said. "because two things the mentally ill need are a proper, adequate home and a job. We're trying to combine both in this program."

Marian added that the program offers clients what they haven't had much access to with other programs -- options.

"The biggest (advantage) is choice. We're trying to develop their choices," he said. "There's been this over-reliance on the Rescue Mission and group homes. We want to get them to move out of the group homes and into their own places so they can work on their vocational skills."

John Myers, TCL's mental health administrator, said he thinks the program will provide a better solution to a very complex problem.

"I think it's great that (the area) was recognized," he said. "Homelessness is not just related to mental illness. It may be related to unemployment or other factors. It's a multi-dimensional thing, and not just one tool will fix the problem."

Myers said that the program offers clients a centralized resource that offers help with many different areas of need.

"We didn't have formalized outreach coordination regarding homelessness, but this program will pull together resources in an integrated way," he said.

PATH programs are found in many major cities throughout Ohio, including Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Lisbon, Dayton and Toledo.

Myers said the Youngstown-Warren area was the largest metropolitan area in Ohio that didn't already have such a program in place.