Connecticut homeowners who are facing immediate foreclosure can now turn to a new job-training program aimed at keeping them in their homes.

The Workplace Inc. pays to send homeowners in default to retraining programs, where they learn skills that are more marketable. The agency and its partners also help mortgage holders negotiate with their banks.

The agency's CEO, Joe Carbonne, founded the program with a $2 million government grant after seeing a man cry as he had to tell his children that they were being evicted from their home.

?It's not a handout, it's a hand up,? Carbonne says. ?It's the individual that's going to do things to create a greater likelihood that their earning will grow and that they can afford those new payments.?

To qualify for the program, which is exclusive to the state of Connecticut, homeowners need to be 60 days late on their mortgage payments and have an annual household income under $120,000.