A new program in Osceola County could help thousands of homeless people get a job and start a new life.

Just over a dozen people are learning how to become a nursing assistant each semester at the Technical Education Center Osceola. It’s all a part of a new program called OPEN.

“We can take and put some of these homeless and transitionally housed people through schooling and not to just get a job but to get a career,” said OPEN coordinator Emily Moreland.

Everything is free for students who qualify to be in the program. For Silivia Cosme she says it’s exactly what she has wanted.

“This to me is the only opportunity for me to actually get something," Cosme said. "I am going to go get that full time job and I am going to get out of the motel.”

Silvia Cosme counts every day she and her four children have been living in a motel along US 192. So far it’s been 11 months. And for people like Cosme, this program, getting her CNA, means it could be her way out.

“I know that when this is all over I’m going to be able to get that full time job,” Cosme said.

Every semester OPEN re-evaluates to see if they have enough funding to support this hands-on learning program. Anyone interested in learning more can email the project at projectopen@communityvision.org .