What is the Success Bell?

When a Chrysalis client secures a job, they are invited to ring the Success Bell, lovingly displayed in each of our centers. We come together to celebrate their hard work and well-earned position - a milestone that creates positive ripples of change throughout our community.

Success Bells: Byron

A native Texan, Byron left a history of drug use and a life in and out of the criminal justice system behind and moved to L.A. He was ready for a change, but he was struggling to land a job because of his past.

Success Bells: Jonathan

Jonathan grew up with little supervision in a rough neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. Early on, he established himself as a troublemaker, often following the example of the older neighborhood boys. His first trip to Juvenile Hall at 14 years old marked the beginning of 20 years of intermittent jail and prison sentences.

Success Bells: Demetrious

While living out of his car, Demetrious tried to hang on to some semblance of his past. He found comfort in his art, drawing the landscape – hard streets decorated with his fellow neighbors living in various states of homelessness.

Success Bells: Latasha

Latasha came to L.A. to pursue a career helping others. But after her first employer moved the organization to another state and a second opportunity fell through due to economic downturn, she found herself in a tough spot.

Success Bells: Darlene

Darlene explains that after years of receiving support from others as she battled addiction, she decided that she was ready to give back and bring order to her life. Her job as a groomer is one outlet that is allowing her to be of service to others – both humans and their animals.

Success Bells: Hassan

Despite struggling with homelessness for the majority of his adult life, Hassan seeks the good in every day. His search for hope led him from New York to Los Angeles…he did not expect his journey to the West Coast to bring him to our Skid Row neighborhood – a place seen by the rest of the country as the epicenter of homelessness.

Los Angeles Times: Starting on the path to permanent housing

Every morning, John Johnson and Sydney Sheiner set out to chat up the people who frequent places such as the Central Library’s Maguire Gardens, the 4th Street overpass and Pershing Square. Their mission is to contact, interview and assist the roughly 130 homeless people living at any time in the west side of downtown.

Success Bells: Omara

Omara fled to the streets at a young age, because being on her own seemed a better alternative to living in an unstable and abusive home. Drugs eventually became another escape. On a downward path spurred by her addiction, Omara eventually landed in jail and lost custody of her five children. She realized she needed to create a better future for her family.

Success Bells: Raymond

“Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?” For an addict with a record like Raymond, this question became, “Where do you see yourself in the next five minutes?”

Success Bells: Ron

For over the course of 10 years, Ron was living on the streets, struggling to find work due to a previous offense. It was after he started a family that Ron realized the urgency of his situation. He needed to find work and a safe place to live for his wife and three children.

Success Bells: Enrique

Enrique grew up thinking that people with jobs were different than he was. And going to an office or having a 9-to-5 was never something that he would have the opportunity to do. However, upon his most recent release from jail, he decided that he was ready for something else.

A Note from our CEO: Rapid Re-housing and Employment

Chrysalis is now part of two different rapid re-housing initiatives, Breaking Barriers and the Housing and Jobs Collaborative (HJC), in an effort to end the vicious cycle of homelessness, unemployment, and incarceration by helping men and women gain access to housing and employment.

Success Bells: Darrell

Growing up in Beverly Hills and Hollywood with a famous father probably sounds like the type of circumstance that would set someone up for success. But for Darrell, a life a partying, drug use, and too much extra time on his hands landed him in and out of jail for over the course of nearly 20 years.

Success Bells: John

As John makes his rounds in Downtown Los Angeles, he greets individuals —some all too familiar faces— all struggling with homelessness. Maybe today will be the day they are ready to come to him for help. After experiencing homelessness, incarceration, and a 24-year off-and-on battle with addiction, John knows what a challenge it is to admit when it’s time to get help.

Success Bells: Robert

Despite having a diverse work history, a positive attitude, and the drive to find employment, Robert was being turned down for jobs time and time again. Though he was focused on moving forward, every rejection from potential employers reminded him of his past.

Success Bells: Kellie

After more than two decades of running on empty and serving time in jail, Kellie came to Chrysalis with the determination to change her life and learn how to navigate a new pathway to self-sufficiency.