OC homeless placed in jobs, through Chrysalis, CalOptima partnership

ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) -- After living on and off the streets for a decade, Weldon Haywood Jr. said he found the help he needed to move past homelessness thanks to a new partnership between CalOptima Health and Chrysalis.

"I was drinking. I was homeless, in and out of jail, and at a certain point in time I just got tired of doing that," Haywood said.

Today, he's employed with Illumination Foundation, a homeless care center in Fullerton.

Haywood credited the nonprofit Chrysalis for providing him with the tools to get here.

The president and CEO of Chrysalis, Mark Loranger, said participants find Chrysalis through referrals.

"We typically work with individuals that have experienced homelessness or have been involved in the justice system and are ready, willing and able to work, but they just need a little bit of a step up, a little bit of an extra aid. And that's what we do across our five offices in Southern California," Loranger said.

The program now counts on additional funding from CalOptima.

Haywood was one of just more than two dozen participants placed in a job since the partnership began this past summer.

The executive director of Medi-Cal and CalAIM at CalOptima Health, Kelly Bruno-Nelson, said it was part of the CalAIM initiative and the first partnership of its kind in the state.

"Part of the project was bringing on these potential employers and also paying for this individual's employment for the first three months so that the employee and the employer got to know each other, got to trust each other, build that rapport and then that individual can be hired full-time," Bruno-Nelson said.

"We're seeing more people want to be a part of this, more shelters want to be a part of this because word is getting out that this is an excellent way to build your workforce."

Thanks to the guidance and case managers still working alongside him, Haywood can give back to others as he also tries to get back on track and reconnect with his family.

He said he hasn't seen his children in 12 years and was excited to see his daughter graduate high school in May.

"They're happy. They actually want to see me even though I've been gone for this long. That's what I'm mostly proud of that I actually was able to be able to give that to myself and to them," Haywood said.

The goal at the end of the two-year partnership pilot program was to place 130 participants.