The homeless in San Diego are getting jobs - thanks to a 16-year-old boy

Authored by cnn.com and submitted by TheRealOcsiban
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(CNN) The homeless men and women step off the van and get straight to work. They pick up trash and bottles, and as they do, business owners and residents cheer them on -- honking, clapping and even handing out refreshments.

It's part of a pilot program in San Diego that hires homeless people to help clean up the city's streets. And it was started by a 16 year-old boy: Kevin Barber.

Barber got the idea from a TED Talk video showcasing a similar program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that invited panhandlers to clean local streets in exchange for fair wages and access to city services.

"It just looked really simple, and the statistics were staggering," the high school junior told CNN.

Cities across the country are using programs like the one in Albuquerque to provide hundreds of part-time jobs to the homeless. Barber wanted to implement one in San Diego, which hosts the country's fourth-largest homeless population.

It's an issue the young activist was keenly aware of from conversations he had with his mother, an emergency room physician who interacts with the homeless on a daily basis.

"I see so many people who just don't have many opportunities," Dr. Carolyn Barber said.

So mother and son reached out to the city government to start a trial run of the homeless program.

It's called " Wheels for Change ." Participants get paid $11.50 an hour. Kevin's mom felt so strongly about the cause that she donated the funds to pay for the six-month pilot.

The city is considering financing the program moving forward. Local politicians are also getting on board.

"It's a win-win for everybody," said City Councilman Scott Sherman. Employing the homeless population to clean up the city has the added benefit of easing the burden on San Diego's sanitation department.

The San Diego "Wheels of Change" van, which transports the newly employed work teams to their cleanup sites.

Several times a week, a van picks up eight to ten people from one of the downtown homeless shelters. The workers travel to different locations, removing trash and debris from many of the same sidewalks and park benches where they once used to sleep.

Bob McElroy, who helps the homeless through the non-profit Alpha Project said he's seen the program's impact on the streets and on the faces of the homeless workers as their fellow citizens come out and cheer their efforts.

"It's just so medicinal for our folks who have always been marginalized and irrelevant," he said.

Homeless workers pose with trash they cleaned up from the streets of San Diego.

After their shift, workers are brought back to the shelter and given their pay in cash. But their job isn't over. They are expected to connect other homeless people with the services that the city and Alpha Project offer. Word of mouth is spreading; the waiting list to participate in "Wheels of Change" is more than 150 names long.

"Lord have mercy, our folks just wanted to participate," McElroy exclaimed. "San Diego is going to be spotless by the time we are through with this."

In San Diego, a "Wheels of Change" work crew digs in.

Susan Graham is one of these motivated folks. She was having suicidal thoughts just a couple weeks ago when she was brought to the Alpha Project shelter. After seven days there, she was introduced to the "Wheels of Change" program. Graham eagerly signed up.

"To give back means a lot to me because they have given so much to me," she said.

Graham plans to participate regularly in the program and has been placed in an apartment after eight months of homelessness.

"This is a miracle. I am a miracle," she said.

The first item Graham put up on her wall as decoration -- $46 in cash she earned from her first day of work with "Wheels of Change."

High school student Kevin Barber is already working to expand the program and hopes to improve San Diego one work shift at a time.

"Our goal is to get another van and have it go more days of the week," he said. "Helping as many people as we can."

kromatika on March 9th, 2018 at 02:32 UTC »

Tldr: homeless rally to clear the street.

OK, so one time I bought a bunch of flower pots, cleaning supplies, and other crap at the hardware store. I was stupid tired and didn't latch the tailgate of my truck correctly, so I'm making a turn at about 25mph, my tailgate flies open, and centrifugal force flings bottles, cans, buckets, and pots onto a 4 lane, busy arteriole.

This street is frequented by demimonde types, about 5 or 6 of which were waiting at a bus stop right in front of my spill. One lady jumps out into the street and starts directing traffic around the spill, and the others form a sandbag line and start loading the stuff back into the back of the truck. Most people, myself included, probably would have just stupidly stared at the mess and done nothing, but these people were not even phased. I thanked them profusely, and they just laughed and waved me on. It was so cool!

I've had plenty of negative experiences with crazies and weirdos. I mean, all of those shitty roommates gotta go somewhere, right? But our society is so unforgiving that one mistake and no decent family can leave anyone on the streets.

RuizTheNomad on March 9th, 2018 at 00:47 UTC »

Please do this in LA, we need it so bad.

JBUCKS3 on March 8th, 2018 at 23:16 UTC »

No matter how this ends. This pre-man/ elder boy has a very bright future ahead of him. Edit: punctuation