Intakes at the Dream Center

The big success of the past month is that we’re now working out of the Dream Center in North Charleston. This gives us a physical location, credibility, and a place to meet employees face to face. So far I’ve conducted close to fifty interviews.

It has been encouraging and energizing to meet the people we want to employ—encouraging because I had my doubts that there actually existed good, honest day laborers who want better, and energizing because I’ve wondered whether or not this could help anybody. But both of these are lies. Just today I talked with a man who, for the past five years has biked more than five miles every morning to a temp agency looking for work. A few weeks back another man came to the Dream Center and explained how a local temp agency took money off the top of everybody’s checks. “What are we supposed to do?” he protested, “Not take it?”

Still, as success whispers the lies grow in both numbers and strength. They pound on the door and yell. It’s almost thrown me off track. The lies consist of: This isn’t working, I should be doing other things, this is taking too long, it’s just a temp agency, I am stupid and inadequate, and I won’t have enough time or money. I feel guilty because we’re conducting interviews but we aren’t even operating. The lies have made me bitter and depressed and inwardly focused, and some nights I go to bed at 9. I wake up not knowing what I should be doing and pass the day hoping I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Even at this very moment I believe some of these lies. They can be difficult to shake.

Still, I know there is nowhere else that I should be.

There have been a few key people who’ve stepped up and said, “This is going to happen, it’s just a matter of time.” And those people are right. We now have a place. We have interested businesses. We have potential employees. We even have an agency that will front our payroll. We need insurance, and a little help from God. And that’s it.

Christ tells us there will be lies and opposition, but that if we stick with it there will be a harvest. The good news is that the more opposition we face, the more lies we hear, the more people say no, the more we know something can really help some people.

Waiting Rooms Change in an Instant

Waiting rooms change in an instant. And that’s about the best thing I can say about them. Let me tell you about mine.

Since September 23, when IES first began, my life has become a waiting room. Excitement turned to anticipation, and anticipation turned to waiting, and now waiting is all I do. Lately, waiting has turned to negative things. I’ve started questioning. I’ve struggled to believe. It’s been like watching a ship go down with a leak you knew would start; because it’s supposed to seem unlikely, people are supposed to ask when it’s time to—you know—and it’s supposed to look darkest before the clear. These are how good stories go. But I wasn’t supposed to hop on the debbie downer bandwagon.

There was a fantastic Seacoast sermon about waiting rooms several months ago, but I can’t remember what they said you should do. I remember what they said you shouldn’t do, and that is to complain, because I’ve been doing a lot of it. It makes everything a problem. Good things become bad and bad things become worse. I’ve also become fantastic at blaming, being pessimistic, ignoring the positive to focus on the negative, and concentrating on my problems to become more miserable. These are horrible parts of me that surface when I’m waiting.

But they can also only change through more waiting.

Faith, it turns out, is best cultivated while waiting. So is strength, hope, and appreciation for what God’s given you and what lies ahead. Waiting is when you get things done. Becoming more like Him takes time and a lot of waiting. Besides, it does no good to have IES running if part of running it well requires patience.

Today, like almost every other day for the past several months, I called Joe Riley’s assistant to find out if there was any news, and this time the news was surprisingly good. Our case is finally making it to the front lines.

Meaning we could start. Meaning things could change in an instant.

In the meantime, I want to make the most of this waiting room—forgetting the parts I’ve botched—and becoming an encouragement to you. Waiting rooms take many different forms and we all endure and sit in them in one way or another. Make the most of the opportunity. If you’ve REALLY done all you CAN do, don’t stress about doing more. Take heart, and have faith, because (insert as many expletives here as you’d like) waiting rooms change in an instant.

What we learned on our summer vacation

One of the primary motivations for taking our recent 8,000 mile odyssey was to visit some of the nation’s leading alternative staffing organizations. Thanks to the hospitality of a number of already very busy people, we received up-close looks at the operations of three top-notch social enterprises: CASS-TES in Phoenix, Chrysalis Enterprises in Los Angeles, and Harborquest in Chicago. Here’s a sampling of what we learned.

Central Arizona Shelter Services – Temporary Employment Service operates out of the largest emergency shelter in downtown Phoenix. The sprawling complex with neatly manicured lawns accommodates several hundred guests and many on-site social services. The dental clinic in particular caught our eye. A fleet of volunteers bustled around rooms full of shimmering new equipment. The director had convinced dental supply companies to use the clinic as an opportunity to showcase their state-of-the-art equipment to the dental professionals who come from all around the country to donate their time there. CASS-TES buses about eight employees to worksites each day. Since it operates under the umbrella of the shelter, it has direct access to its client base (if someone doesn’t show up for work, you know where they sleep), and it benefits from the administrative infrastructure of the shelter. The folks at TES reminded us that the day labor market is extremely competitive, that residential construction is down, and that finding work-ready clients can be challenging.


Chrysalis seeks to empower economically disadvantaged people through employment. It is not a shelter, but rather a hub for employment services to the homeless and others in need. Their offices sit right off Skid Row in downtown LA. We were immediately struck by the welcoming atmosphere of their reception area. Clients fixed themselves coffee, checked their voicemail at a bank of phones, and hunted for jobs at the computer terminals. We attended orientation and budgeting classes, both run by enthusiastic volunteers. Chrysalis obviously knows how to utilize its volunteers effectively; many have been coming there for years. Chrysalis Enterprises is a transitional employment program offered to clients who need supported work experience before entering the job market. CE operates a booming street cleaning business, having secured the majority of the street cleaning contracts with the city’s Business Improvement Districts. CE uses former clients as foremen on its street cleaning crews, which offers current clients additional incentive to work hard. CE is in the process of cutting back its clients’ hours from 40 hours per week to 32 hours. This change is designed to give clients time to conduct job searches.

We had two additional treats at Chrysalis. Joe Parente, who oversees the operations of the street cleaning business, treated us to lunch at the Nickel Diner including a desert of maple glazed bacon donuts. Trevor Kale, who directs CE, gave us a fascinating tour of Skid Row.

In Chicago, we met with Bill Schwartz of Harborquest, the first alternative staffing organization in the country. Harborquest started in the 1970s with the aim of paying higher wages to day laborers. By the mid-1980s, they were sending out over 700 workers every day. But they felt like they weren’t helping people escape poverty. So they changed directions. They scaled back the staffing business and started transporting inner city residents to the industrial jobs springing up in the suburbs. Eventually, they convinced Chicago public transit to pick up the routes of these reverse commutes. Presently, they’re planning to jumpstart the staffing business once more. They already send out a few hundred workers each day. Bill encouraged us to be more than a temp agency, to provide the extra support that helps people help themselves. We also discussed top-down marketing for business expansion, which means pitching to the people in charge of a company rather than site supervisors because the former will be more receptive to the social benefits of our business. Additionally, by sitting in Harborquest’s call center for an hour we were able to observe well-honed account and client management procedures.

Bill also took us out for Thai food, which was slightly more delicious than the peanut butter sandwiches and granola bars upon which we sustained ourselves for most of the trip.

Overall, the words of encouragement and counsel that we received during our visits with these organizations left us more informed and more confident. We are grateful for their generosity and looking forward to thanking them further by putting their advice and example into practice.

Adrian

If you’re starting a nonprofit temp agency, Adrian, Texas has a lot to teach you.

Derek and I left Charleston on May 17 on a cross-country road trip. The plan was to visit three other nonprofit temp agencies, see the country, and build up the momentum to propel IES from concept to reality. I had initially refused to go, denouncing the whole endeavor as financially reckless. Derek convinced me, though. The day before we left he preached a sermon at the storied St. Michael’s Episcopal of downtown Charleston. Watch the video. It’s a great message and gives you a sense of how persuasive he can be when he starts talking about embracing risk. (As a side-note, if you listen carefully to the video, you’ll hear him say that we’re going to get into “our car,” and I whisper “my car.”)



Two days later we were cruising across the Texas Panhandle. Amarillo, the Cadillac Ranch, and signs for FREE 72 OZ STEAKS came and went, and the hamlet of Adrian would have come and gone as well if the speedometer hadn’t stopped working. We pulled over. Smoke rolled out from under the hood. It looked as if someone had spilled coffee on my transmission.

I had the car towed back to Amarillo. The next day Tom the mechanic rather insensitively proclaimed the death of my 1999 Mazda 626. (“Smell that? That’s the smell of death.” He would charge me $70 for that piece of nasal wizardry.) I began to wish that I had not replaced the exhaust system just prior to leaving on this trip. I began to wish that I had not swooned over Derek’s riskophilia and come half way across the country to lose the most valuable piece of property that I owned. Amarillo was an ugly town.

I purchased a used Ford Focus that afternoon. The next day we drove to Phoenix, and many gifts were given unto us during the rest of the trip.

There’s an obvious moral to the story, a restatement of what Derek talks about in his sermon: risk sometimes incurs loss, but better to lose in boldness - and still reap some of the fruits of boldness - than never to play out of fear. That’s an important moral, especially in light of the difficult steps that we will need to take to get IES off the ground in the next few weeks. But quite honestly, that was a lesson I had learned prior to the demise of my vehicle.

Still, part of me needed that car to break down. Part of me needed the rotten parts of the trip if only to force me to appreciate the real value of the journey. My favorite scene in TH White’s The Once and Future King features Lancelot, the greatest knight ever known, relating the story of his unthinkable defeat during a quest in which Lancelot had made great sacrifices to maintain spiritual purity. When Guinevere asks what his reaction was, he replies, “I knelt down in the water of Mortoise, Jenny, where he had knocked me – and I thanked God for the adventure.”

I’m no Lancelot, and I need to do a better job of being grateful for the adventure.

A Visionary Thank You

We wanted to say thank you to everyone who came to our fundraiser last Thursday, particularly Paul Meeks who sponsored the event and Joe Spector who generously offered the use of the Old South Barber Spa free of charge. It was a great time, almost dream like, the realization that what we’ve been advocating for sometime is going to—as it seems—have the opportunity to get off the ground.

All there is to say now is that there is an incredibly long way to go. With every step we take forward, we realize there are at least ten more steps than we thought there were. But this is the way the world works; if we could see all the steps at once we probably wouldn’t move; and, we are moving.

Thank you for your encouragement. It says this is a worthwhile vision. Thank you for your prayers, and excitement, and generosity. The journey will be long, and we’ve yet to find out if this is an idea that really works, but from these uncertainties comes the faith all of you demonstrated by attending and giving on Thursday, and that made the night.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support. Thanks to God, who’s will is all that matters. Our biggest “ASK” is that he would use us in some small way.

A Big Success, Small Step

Back in February I was on a wild goose chase searching for where our clients would work when I stumbled upon the state contract the city of Charleston abides by. The state contract mandates that all blue collar temporary workers should be paid $9.10 an hour. I shared this information with Pete, who didn’t believe me when I expressed in a frenzied flurry that I was certain blue collar temp workers working for the city—who are homeless and near-homeless—get paid the same as all other blue collar temp workers, $7.25.

Later that afternoon we talked with several of the guys from the Star Gospel Mission, who had worked for the city before, through Trojan Labor, a local labor agency. All of them confirmed our suspicions, that blue collar temp workers were being paid $7.25 even though the state contract mandates that these workers be paid $9.10. Within a week or two we had taken pictures of one of our friends who was working for the city and even had his pay stubs dating back to February 25th, each showing $7.25 an hour.

In the meantime we had also contracted the state procurement officer in Columbia, who said the state had the right to investigate if they suspected any fraud, and another state procurement officer who said we should solve things at the city level. We had begun that process too. We had started with a very kind lady at human resources, Susan, who had been calling and checking on the pay rates, and even eventually spoke with Mayor Riley.

On March 9th, when we were sure that Trojan Labor was in fact violating the state contract, we approached them with the document. They said they would look into it. When we approached Trojan Labor again on the March 31st, they said they were checking with corporate.

Then today, April 8th, one of our friends who works for the city through Trojan Labor (and also volunteers at and attends Seacoast Church with me) called us to say thank you, that his wage had been raised.

He said thank you, that this would make a difference in his life.

He said one of the other 12 coworkers who work for the city through Trojan Labor came up to tell him thank you as well, that he would be getting paid $9.10 an hour now.

So for IES, this is a huge success. We’re excited to see our friend and these other laborers make a higher wage.

But it’s a small step:

It’s a demonstration of some of the larger issues with for profit day labor. Both Susan and Damon claimed that they never would have known—in Susan’s case—that the state contract was being violated, and—in Damon’s case—that there was a state contract at all. There is no accountability. No transparency. There will also be no repay. By my calculations $11,544 since January should be in the pockets of the homeless and the near-homeless instead of a for profit labor agency. The problem of for profit day labor, when it comes to dealing with the homeless and near-homeless, is the problem of an entire system and not just one violation of a state contract.

For the homeless and near-homeless day laborer, this is a huge success too. It means hope. It means courage. On April 2nd, our friend who works through Trojan Labor for the city went and spoke with the manager of Trojan Labor, telling him that he knew about the state contract. He told him there was an organization that could prove he wasn’t being paid the right amount, and audaciously claimed that a state representative was planning to shake the tree.

But it too is a small step:

At a presentation at Charleston Southern University today, near the end I told them that In Every Story is about the conflict that is in every story, and then I began to cry. I tried to tell them that in every story there are examples of God’s love, hope, and redemption, but I couldn’t. Instead I cried. Pete had to finish. Because I realized that fairly paid temporary labor is still a small step for the homeless and near-homeless in the grandest scheme of things.

Thanks for your support.

And thank you God, for moving in a bigger way than we could have on our own.

IES on the front page of Charleston Mercury

Fellow tour guide and friend Paul Meeks writes a financial column for the Charleston Mercury, a paper with a distribution of 50,000. He just penned a great article about IES that appeared on the front page of the Mercury. The text of the article is below. Paul's also provided the venue and food and drinks for an IES fund raiser on April 29. It's at the Old South Barber Spa on 10 State Street in Charleston at 6PM. More info to follow.



The Best Investment That You’ll Ever Make!
By Paul Meeks
Special Financial Correspondent

In this column, I discuss ways to save or make money most often by investing in the publicly-traded shares of companies. In this essay, however, I propose joining an endeavor that’s much more admirable and enlightened than accumulating material wealth. I’ll make the case as to how the following local organization is revolutionizing a niche in community service and why it deserves your support particularly in these dire economic times.

First, let’s set the stage. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 3.5 million Americans meet their sad criteria. Our local Crisis Ministries estimate that 3,000 folks are homeless on any given night in the tri-counties. That figure increased 19 percent in 2008; and that year was only the beginning of the global financial meltdown. Obviously, the numbers of local destitute have significantly increased since then with few, if any, signs of relief.

I know, you picture a dirty, homeless man wandering the streets talking to himself. He’s a burden to society. There’s no way that he could ever become a productive, self-sufficient person. Of course, there’s no way that this fellow could be a dependable, constructive worker; but that’s not true. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 13 percent of American homeless single (and 17 percent in families) adults are employed. They mostly serve the day labor market. Unfortunately, they’re often abused by the for-profit temporary labor agencies that are supposed to be their advocates.

I’m supporting with my donation, by writing this article, by shepherding their business plan and, generally, with a long-term commitment to do anything that my boundless energy but meager talent allow, Charleston’s sole non-profit temporary labor agency geared to helping homeless work immediately, and, more important, to take them down a dignified and quick path to self-sufficiency.

This group is In Every Story (IES). It was founded by two 2008 Furman graduates with business acumen and hearts of gold, President Derek Snook and Vice President Peter DeMarco. “President” and “Vice President” are exaggerated titles, and not their idea, for this humble, two-person team. I met Derek at Palmetto Carriage where we are both tour guides. Derek and Peter have immersed themselves into assisting Charleston’s homeless who wish to work. These leaders even live in the Star Gospel Mission on Meeting Street with homeless people. Thus, they aren’t limousine liberals. No one walks the walk and talks the talk like these guys. Derek has even done weeks of covert temporary labor with his homeless friends to experience first hand how the for-profit agencies take advantage of the homeless to pad their pockets.

IES will go toe-to-toe with the for-profit day labor agencies to offer a better product for the homeless and for the groups for whom they work. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, they’ll do it at a competitive price for the employer and direct a higher proportion of the proceeds to the homeless.

Allow me to describe the day labor market, so you better understand its dynamics and severe flaws. Nationally, about 80 percent of these workers are hired on street corners and in the parking lots of home improvement stores. The balance use -- or are often used by -- for-profit temporary help agencies. Businesses pay the sponsors an hourly wage for workers a portion of which is forwarded to the employees. The sum to and from the agencies is supposed to increase with job complexity. As you might expect, construction employs almost half of these laborers who are mostly urban men of all races.

How are the homeless mistreated by the day labor staffers? Of course, the latter don’t attempt to groom them for steady work. They often pay out less to the workers than promised.
Believe it or not, they may even forward less of the proceeds than their contracts with companies and government organizations stipulate. For example, we’ve found a day labor agency that appears to be ripping off not only the homeless but also the City of Charleston. (Rest assured if you lead that agency and are reading this, you can expect me to expose you when I’ve all the evidence.) Often, the laborers have no insurance despite doing dangerous work. They face gender and racial discrimination. There are no benefits. Overall, agencies may target the homeless with their predatory employment practices because they know that this segment of the workforce is vulnerable, desperate and uninformed.

What IES offers is a better product for the laborers and their employers. Why is it great for the homeless workers? The group connects its clients -- it sees them as “clients” and not as subservient laborers -- with steadier (i.e., 40 hours per week), more visible employment. IES makes sure that its clients get paid at least the minimum promised under regulations. Furthermore, under its Hope Fund program, a portion of the income is segregated for forced saving. Remember, the organization’s goal is to help these folks become self-sufficient, which means at least the ability to care for oneself in his apartment and often with his transportation. The group will also purchase workers’ compensation and general liability insurance for its clients. Furthermore, clients will be provided with safety gear when necessary and rides to and from work.

The Hope Fund is a particularly interesting and powerful concept. Here’s how it works. The typical wage for a day laborer in Charleston is $12 per hour of which $9.75 is to go to the employee. Of course, as I wrote above, some for-profit agencies unethically and perhaps illegally discount the payout to boost their profits. IES will be sure to forward the $9.75 but set aside $2.50 of it for The Hope Fund for that client so that he has a forced savings program in order to accumulate assets more quickly so that he can rent an apartment and buy a used car.

How does the hiring organization benefit? Workers that have steady employment are more motivated. Beyond that, when they’re motivated they show up for work promptly and arrive sober. With feedback from the employer, IES grades its clients on their job performance. The data is shared with prospective employers. Also, the group randomly tests for drugs and alcohol. The for-profit day labor agencies don’t vet employees because they don’t care if they show up tomorrow. For the same price, IES provides higher quality, more dependable, longer tenured clients who do better work and who -- for the first time in too long -- respect themselves.

As you can see, this is a better and more cost effective way to help Charleston’s homeless work and attain self-sufficiency. Leaders Derek Snook and Peter DeMarco are raising $100,000 to launch their program to help 20 clients in the first year and then 40 in each of the next two years. Clients are expected to be self-sufficient and out of the program by the end of their first year. To manage the organization, Derek and Peter will pay themselves no more than what their clients get paid net, or $9.75 an hour. These two also live in the Start Gospel Mission with their homeless clients and friends. The Mission will serve as their “office” for at least three years.

Bottom line: Essentially every penny of one’s “investment” goes to putting Charleston’s homeless to work and to self-sufficiency within twelve months. Please ask me, Derek or Peter -- both at ineverystory@gmail.com -- for a copy of their business plan, which I endorse, and their introductory PowerPoint presentation.

Here’s how I’m helping in the near term in addition to sharing this story with you. I’m making a tax-deductible donation to this registered entity. I’m also hosting an event on Thursday, April 29 for IES at The Old South Barber Spa at 10 State Street beginning at 6PM. If you’ve never been to the Spa, which was just voted 2010 “Best Barber” by the Charleston City Paper, you must check it out. It’s a cool, tastefully redone downtown historical building. I’m buying the food and drinks. Derek and Peter and other supporters will be there to share their vision. Please RSVP to me or to ineverystory@gmail.com. You’ll have a great time at a terrific venue and while you’re there you may decide to support IES as it gets its first 100 homeless men self-sufficient within three years with essentially every penny going to their benefit.

Paul has been an equity analyst, portfolio manager or strategist since 1987. He’s at 843-693-5845 or at paul@winsorsouth.com

Derek Snook is IES’s contact. He’s at 843-327-8456. The organization’s e-mail address and blog link are ineverystory@gmail.com and http://ineverystory.blogspot.com, respectively.