Homeless Sprint to Work

Olu-Solo Leon, a resident at the Bowery Mission on the Lower East Side / Nia Hamm

It’s 5:30 on a warm, rainy July morning. Olu-Solo Leon meets his running partners outside to stretch and start their morning jog. They set out on the quiet streets of the Lower East Side, which will soon be bustling with people and cars. Everyone runs at a different pace but all are focused.

Leon runs fast, his strides long. This isn’t just exercise. Leon is running toward a better future.

He’s part of a running team from The Bowery Mission organized by the New York City chapter of Back on My Feet: a national non-profit that teaches independence and self-sufficiency within the homeless community through running.

Leon came to the United States from Jamaica at 22 to find better employment opportunities. Instead, he sold drugs and went to prison for six years on drug and weapons-related charges.

“I came home to nothing,” he said. “That’s how I became homeless.”

Leon, 31, runs with a group of 10 other homeless men from the mission and more than a dozen BoMF chapter volunteers. Their goal is to get back into the working world. Since joining the program, the men are more hopeful about achieving that goal.

Leon was released from prison in February. He learned about BoMF after he came to the mission in March and instantly believed it was his ticket to a better life.

“And as you say it really makes you be disciplined,” Leon said. “Because, in the working world you got to be disciplined. You got to show up on time, you got to do your job.”

The New York City chapter of BoMF, which launched in April, joined a network of eight other chapters across the nation, including the founding chapter in Philadelphia.

It partners with four other shelters in the city in addition to The Bowery Mission, including, Project Renewal, Common Ground, Camba and The Fortune Society.

Each shelter has a team that runs up to three days a week for early-morning jogs with optional runs on Saturdays. They also participate in races and marathons.

Those who maintain a 90 percent attendance rate after 30 days in the program, which lasts from four to six months, move on to the “Next Steps” phase. In this part of the program they are given access to educational and employment training, as well as housing opportunities.

From 2010 to 2011 BoMF has seen an 85 percent increase in members obtaining jobs and a 121 percent increase in members obtaining housing. Seventy-nine percent of its members have enrolled in education and training during that period.

Dennis Oliver, 60, is also a member of the Bowery BoMF running team. The former marine and security guard said he is battling a drinking problem that cost him his job. He came to the mission in January facing eviction from his apartment.

Oliver said he no longer has an urge to drink. He said discipline and commitment were always within him. Now, when the team goes running, he is usually the first one up and ready to go. Oliver is inspired to find work again.

“I would definitely like to be employed with a good security company,” he said.

He’s also determined to beat his demons.

“Somewhere in my episode of my drinking participation I lost,” Oliver said. “And I don’t like to lose.”

Oliver and Leon are part of approximately 41 thousand people who live in New York City homeless shelters. That’s an all-time high, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.

City officials are trying to tackle homelessness and unemployment by including an expectation of work in shelter culture. More than 20,000 homeless people have been placed into jobs since 2010, according to the city’s Department of Homeless Services.

The program is proving to be beneficial for BoMF members as well as corporate sponsors.

John Rieman, general manager of Renaissance New York Times Square and a member of the advisory board of Back on My Feet NYC, said the group teaches shelter residents what it means to serve people.

“Marriott believes in serving the associates, the customer, and the community – and this focus on service is essential to any good employee,” he said.

Behind those numbers are people, like Leon, who were once hopeless but now have a new sense of confidence and mission.

“So I want to pursue a career in computers,” Leon said. “I never actually worked with computers. But being here I’m learning more stuff on a day-to-day basis.”