Chrysalis
Matt Smith
516 S. Main St.
Los Angeles, Calif. 90013
(213) 895-7777

This unusual program succeeds in an area where many have failed: It finds jobs for long-unemployed men and women at risk of homelessness, primarily occupants of single-room occupancy hotels on Los Angeles' Skid Row.

To be eligible for the program, applicants must be free of drugs and alcohol (a process that Chrysalis will assist through counseling and referral) and established in permanent housing, although this may be, and often is, assignment to a single-room-occupancy hotel. Then, as much as a self-screening process as for learning, participants must commit to a short "Job Search Prep Class" in job-hunting and self-improvement.

With those prerequisites, clients find a broad range of support services at hand in the Chrysalis office (a low, concrete-block building that once housed a Mexican restaurant) as they set about the almost-forgotten routine of job-seeking with one-on-one assistance from case managers.

Equipment and assistance are available to help men and women who've long been down and out evaluate their skills and construct resumes, putting the best face on a checkered curriculum vita and maximizing the significance of scattered jobs and past experiences. Chrysalis staff members assist with job-seeking, using such obvious strategies as want ads and postings as well as cold calls to businesses listed in the Yellow Pages. Staff also work regularly with area employers to identify potential job openings and ensure that Chrysalis participants get a fair chance at them.

Typewriters, computers, stamps and stationery, a telephone number and mailing address are all provided -- everyday necessities that loom large only when they are NOT available. Chrysalis provides clean clothes, bus fare, even a bag lunch on that all-important day of the job interview.

The support system works. Since the program began in 1986, Chrysalis lists some 1,500 people who have moved off the street and into jobs. And, through follow-up case management, Chrysalis stays in touch with the workers, tracking their progress for up to one year, and helping them with issues they may face after being hired.

In addition to the permanent employment program, Chrysalis also operates a Labor Connection program, a "temporary agency" offering homeless people the chance to earn money and gain work experience at temporary jobs. Designed for people who may not be ready for full-time jobs, the Labor Connection offers them some income while rehabilitating them back into the workplace. This program will produce an estimated 38,000 hours of paid work for Skid Row residents this year [1993].

In a separate program, Chrysalis has also rehabilitated two rundown Skid Row hotels that it acquired in 1989. They were recently put back into service as decent, low-rent housing with onsite support services.

This outstanding organization is one of the most effective around.

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.

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