By Jonathan Friedman
Staff Writer

December 1, 2009 -- Walter Richards, who was a homeless alcoholic for 12 years until he sought help in February, felt extra special about his new job one day when he saw a young toddler learning how to walk with his father.

He had just cleaned the area on Third Street Promenade where the boy was walking, Richards recalls, and the father thanked him and said, “You know the little guy needs a level playing field.”

“I feel good about that,” Richards says. “Even if he fell, he’s not going to hit some debris. I feel like my job makes a difference.”

Richards is one of half a dozen workers taking part in a program run by Chrysalis and funded by the Bayside District that puts formerly homeless people on a maintenance crew to clean the streets of Downtown Santa Monica.

The program is in its infancy, but it is already getting high marks from those affected by it, says Rick Stoff, the director of business partnerships at Chrysalis. He notes that an official from the Bayside District told him “everybody is pretty darn happy.”

Bayside District CEO Kathleen Rawson calls the program launched this month “a huge benefit to the community.”

“They have been a great addition to the Downtown team,” Rawson says. “They’re incredibly nimble. They’re able to address issues that come up. And with 30,000 visitors every day, there are a lot of things that come up.”

The Bayside District board voted in August to put $80,000 toward the program operated by Chrysalis, a Santa Monica-based job training program for formerly homeless people.

That decision did not come without controversy. Several board members opposed the program, with one calling it a “misguided effort to grab a pot of money and use it for much needed maintenance.”

Chrysalis uses a bit higher standard than usual to select the half-dozen workers who participate in the program, Stoff says. There is not as much supervision with the job, so those selected needed to be “self-starters” and “a little bit independent.”

One such candidate was Richards, who has come a long way since he decided to seek help the day after he turned 50.

Richards says he was “jailed in Santa Monica more times than I’d like to count” and “tarred and feathered out of the city” before he found help through the Clare Foundation, which provided him with a home and rehabilitation. Clare then introduced him to Chrysalis, which got him back on the workforce.

“I feel like a productive member of society,” Richards says. “I feel like I’m contributing rather than just taking.

“I used to be sleeping in gutters. Now I’m sweeping them. I can’t seem to escape the gutter. However, I prefer sweeping them to sleeping in them.

“I’ve covered a 12-year gap in my life,” Richards says. “And I’m working. It’s easier to get a job when you have a job … The possibilities are there, anything besides hiding behind a bottle. Everything is open. My world is wide open, even at 50.”

Like Richards, those aided by Chrysalis often haven't worked for several years. Stoff says the Bayside-funded program gives them a good starting point for finding work in the future. And it gives those at Chrysalis a good feeling to get people back into the working world.