Lewis Evans became a self-described serial entrepreneur because of injustices he says he saw and experienced while growing up in Northeast Baltimore.
In one vividly etched boyhood memory, he recalls how police put him in a cruiser in a case of mistaken identity and how he ran home to his mother in tears.
Because of such experiences, "I just felt helpless," Evans said. "For me it turned into a rebellion. Instead of accepting the status quo and saying this is just the way it is, I felt that being in business gave me control."
It also gave him a platform to be vocal about "things I saw that didn't make sense."
After running a trucking business that transported air freight for UPS, he looked for a way to combine a startup with his longtime activism to bring jobs to low-income neighborhoods.
He started On Demand Labor-Baltimore, a construction and building-related staffing company that finds temporary jobs for mostly low-income men from poor city neighborhoods, in 2013 after completing a college construction supervision program.
On Demand has placed about 2,000 workers, and with the growth of the business, Evans was able to stop leasing and buy his own office building on Park Avenue.
Earlier this month, he launched USA Staffers, a health care staffing firm that matches mostly women with medical assistant, certified nursing assistant, dental assistant and companion jobs at doctors' offices and nursing homes.
"The key to changing the economic condition and changing the black experience in America is simply jobs," Evans said. "There are so many things that come with jobs."
For one thing, he said, the entry-level job provides a rite of passage into adulthood.
Young workers "understand the responsibility of going to work and managing their money, and they get to find their rhythm in the workplace," he said. "Do they like something mechanical, social, intellectual, health-related? You get to feel how you interact with people and machinery in society. In low-income communities, we miss those entry-level jobs and have people who just don't find their place in society."
Evans said he has built strong relationships with employers by requiring hires to adhere to strict rules regarding dress and language on the job.
He said the employees he's met have inspired him. One worker, who had been ill, told Evans after being hired that he wanted to leave his young daughter with the memory of her father as a working person. The man later died.
"This is what makes my life so beautiful," Evans said. "We have to remember that little girl. We have touched her life."
Another man worked a temporary job for a week before confiding to Evans that he thought about turning to crime to support his family but instead found opportunity in Evans' company.
The business owner says he expects strong demand for the new health staffing business. He plans to take it public next year and to start employee-owned franchises by 2018.
"I love payday," Evans said. "Payday for me is when I see guys who hadn't been working come pick up a paycheck and bring their children along. It makes my heart sing."
Name: Lewis Evans
Age: 58
Title: Owner, On Demand Labor-Baltimore and USA Staffers
Previous job: Owner, Evans/Brown Transportation Inc.
Birthplace: Baltimore
Education: pursuing BA in environmental science and Human Ecology, University of Baltimore.
Family: Married to Jane Brown for 15 years; two daughters, three grandchildren.
Hobbies: Avid sailor. Owner of 37 ' Tartan sailboat. Life member of Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating, with 10 years volunteering to introduce physically challenged people to the world of sailing.