A little more than a year ago, Keifer Moreland stole money from the bar where he worked and lived above to feed his heroin addiction. When he was caught, he lost his job and his apartment. Today, Moreland has broken his addiction, taken a job with a new social enterprise initiative geared toward men in recovery. This holiday season, Moreland has much brighter plans for a new, hope-filled year.
Moreland, 20, is one of the first two employees at the
Green Recycling Works (GRW), a social enterprise venture out of the
City Gospel Mission (CGM). Three days a week, Moreland and co-worker Delmond Montgomery, 48, drive to local businesses that have hired GRW to take away recyclable items that they can't handle, things like cardboard, books and clothes. The GRW team gets an 8 a.m. start time, bringing recyclable material back to the warehouse to package, bind and resell. The workspace they will learn to navigate inside and out during their nine to 12-month work period is, in itself, a feat of recycling — the 8,000-square-foot factory in South Fairmount has been abandoned for 30 years,
Sherman Bradley, vice president of CGM and president of GRW, envisioned his new non-profit a couple of years ago. When he mentioned launching a social enterprise to his boss at CGM, Bradley, didn’t receive much more than nod. Still, he continued to research. He visited the
HandUP Foundation in Milton, Penn. HandUP, a social enterprise that started with only two employees doing simple house repairs, now has more than 15 employees and runs a variety of programs.
Bradley was both inspired and encouraged.
He wanted to start the social enterprise to help fund CGM as well as serve as an extension of the rehabilitation services'
Exodus Program, a 12-month resedential rehabilitation program for men struggling with addictions. Bradley wanted his social enterprise venture to include job training and workforce re-entry opportunities for Exodus graduates.
Bradley knew he needed help to develop a business plan and run the new non-profit, so he approached Matthew Long, a New York native and long-time CitiBank employee. Long, who moved to Cincinnati in 1996, was a pastor at a church in Brown County before serving as headmaster at Miami Valley Christian Academy for three years. Together, the two talked about ways to make their loose business model a solid reality.
“I was looking for what was next,” Long says. “It was an idea with a foundation, and we knew it could work.”
They decided on a recycling business because of the opportunity to create two income streams. First, companies hire GRW to pick up recyclable materials. Second, broken down and packaged materials can be resold.
After crafting a business plan, Long and Bradley spent more than a year fundraising. Large donations from Duke Energy and Messer Construction helped build momentum. Long and Bradley promised that GRW would be profitable within three years or they would close the operation.
The founders actively searched for customers who could use recycling services, building a growing client base. But before their launch Oct. 17, they had to hire their first two employees.
Moreland and Montgomery filled out job applications and were interviewed for the first positions. They earn $9.50 per hour and gain invaluable work experience. Both received 10 hours of customer service training and are now certified to operate a forklift.
“We’re basically a resume builder,” Long says. “Once our employees leave here we want them to feel comfortable that they can go out there and get a job.”
Within three years, Long and Bradley hope to have 10 men continually employed by GRW. All of the employees will be Exodus program graduates. Usually, men leave the Exodus program and enter transitional housing while looking for work. After stints working at GRW for nine to 12 months, the men will have valuable work experience and time to start rebuilding their lives.
“We saw it as another way to help get people back on the right track,” Bradley says.
Currently GRW works with Jobs Plus and Cincinnati Works to locate jobs for the men who transition into the workforce. But Long says one of the most important aspects of his job stretches beyond learning customer service and how to drive a forklift.
A little more than a year after entering the Exodus program to help deal with their addictions, both Moreland and Montgomery are beginning to put their lives back together. “After seeing where I was a year ago, I can’t wait to see where God takes me in the next year, or five,” Moreland says.
Montgomery, who hasn’t lived with his wife and two children in more than 15 months, moves back home this month, just in time for the holidays. He's excited to be working again after a long stint of unemployment. Long even set Montgomery and his wife up with a counselor so the move back in could be a smooth transition.
“My family was so happy with the change,” Montgomery says. “My daughters run up to me and smile. I know they are happy and proud. I’ve come a long way.”