The men have abused drugs and alcohol. Some have criminal records. They describe themselves as homeless. They've hit bottom but are now enrolled in an unusual downtown Baltimore school.
Housed on the upper floors of Our Daily Bread Employment Center, the Christopher Place Employment Academy recently received a $200,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation to help further a recovery program for men whose lives are so confused they don't where to turn for help.
The academy, a program started by Catholic Charities 14 years ago, operates with an immersive, 18-month residential program (absences are not permitted) that provides education and job training as well as addiction recovery. The men take daily classes in anger management, self-esteem, recovery, communication, goal setting, financial literacy, and working for success. They may also work on getting their GEDs.
On a recent day when Walmart officials visited Christopher Place in the 700 block of Fallsway, two men enrolled at the academy candidly related their experiences. They told of how they have renounced the way they lived.
Richard Robinson, 47, said he started running drugs for older members of his family when he was 17.
"I've been shot at. I've been chased at. One day I may not make it," Robinson reflected one day last week while in his fourth month in the academy. He said he was from a "good family" in West Baltimore. His mother once told him his life was so perilous that he "should take out insurance on himself." He said he never did because he did not value his own life.
"Before I came here, I would help nobody. It was all about me," Robinson said, adding that while he worked at places such as Fudruckers restaurant, he'd make fast money on the streets peddling drugs and start missing work as a cook. He was arrested and incarcerated. He also abused drugs.
Robert Taylor, 36, spent part of his childhood at 27th and Matthews streets in Waverly. He was shaken as a child when his younger brother died in a shooting. He dropped out of Lake Clifton High School. He medicated his own troubles with drugs and while he held jobs at Lehigh Cement and an asbestos abatement firm, but he never kept them longer than two years.
"I was tired of living my life the way I was living it," Taylor said. "Now I practice humility, to be at peace with myself."
Both men decided to enter Christopher Place in June and passed medical tests to determine they had stopped using drugs.
"I came down and had a real strict interview to make sure I was here for change," said Taylor, who entered after his mother told him she could not accept him in her home. "Since then I've been growing mentally and physically. I no longer keep things bottled up. I interact with people in my class and the doors are always open to talk to my teachers."
The men initially live in a dormitory and as they progress, move to their own quarters. They are instructed in how to write a resume on-line, how to dress for an interview, how to discuss a job with a personnel manager.
"There is a great screening process," Taylor said of the environment at the academy. "The other people here are motivated. There is no one here to bring us down, There are no crabs in the basket."
After they leave the school, they can move into housing provided by Catholic Charities. The doors of the school are always open to them to return for support and a caring ear.
"The success of individuals who have turned their lives around due to these programs really brings home the importance of corporate philanthropy, particularly in difficult economic times," said William J. McCarthy, Jr., executive director of Catholic Charities.
The Walmart officials who visited Christopher Place were struck by the stories they heard from the men.
"It is a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to hear firsthand the poignant and moving stories of lives that Walmart's grant has been able to effect," said Keith Morris, director of community affairs in the East Region for Walmart. "It is both gratifying and humbling to witness the transformation these individuals are making in their lives."
jacques.kelly@baltsun.com