By Lookout Staff

April 24, 2026 -- The City Council on Tuesday is expected to expand a jobs program that hires homeless and low-income individuals to help clean Downtown streets.

Part of the Council's Consent Calendar, the item authorizes the City Manager to increase its contract with Chrysalis, a non-profit job training agency, by $490,416 for a total not to exceed $1,635,060.

The increase allows the Public Works Department to "expand enhanced maintenance initiatives" that include litter removal and power washing from the Downtown core to commercial districts and additional neighborhoods.

Street maintenance is a key component of the City's Realignment Plan approved by the Council last October that "prioritizes improving the physical condition of civic spaces through targeted and impactful measures."

In its report to the Council, City staff notes that Chrysalis recruits crew members through its Transitional Employment Program, "which provides participants with on-the-job training, work experience, and opportunities to develop teamwork skills."

"Many participants subsequently secure full-time employment with other agencies, private companies, and nonprofit organizations," staff wrote in recommending the contract modification.

"Staff believe that augmenting Chrysalis’ contract with Realignment Plan funds to meet the City’s immediate needs would further provide meaningful workforce development opportunities for unhoused and low-income individuals, while advancing the goals of the Realignment Plan," staff wrote.

The item was placed on the agenda one month after the Council approved a Realignment Plan Update on March 24 that expands the enhanced maintenance and cleaning services to commercial corridors that include Montana Avenue, Main Street and Wilshire, Pico and Ocean Park boulevards.

The services include "regular pressure washing of sidewalks and public spaces, hand and broom cleaning of streetscapes, enhanced sidewalk maintenance, and expanded landscaping and tree trimming," City officials said.

The expanded services come after the Council approved a comprehensive reorganization of the Public Works Department that includes the creation of a new Downtown and Beach Maintenance Division.

The new division merges the existing Downtown and beach maintenance teams under a unified structure, City officials said.