Streetwise Resume Led to a Job

On his bicycle, in the middle of the night, Lance Thomas searches boarded-up properties for intruders. Sometimes he sits behind the buildings, the darkness lit only by his burning cigarette.

As head of security for the West Valley Community Development Corp., a nonprofit agency that provides low-income housing, Thomas is responsible for maintaining and protecting abandoned properties the agency plans to develop. He carries no weapon.

“I just have my mouth,” said Thomas, 33, “which I have found very useful.”

He admits he gets an “adrenaline rush” from his job, although it can be dangerous. But then, he also likes skydiving.

His approach seems to be working. In the past year, none of the development agency’s properties has been vandalized or damaged, said Ellen Michiel, the agency’s executive director. She credits Thomas for the good record.

“He’s very brave,” Michiel said. “He knows all the gangs and all the dealers. We don’t get bothered.”

Thomas is a nonthreatening man of medium build, who often tucks his ponytail under a baseball cap. When he was younger, he hung out with street people in Hollywood, he said. Last March, Michiel discovered him living in an abandoned house next to her office. She hired him several weeks later, giving him the part-time job for $8.50 an hour.

“You can walk the neighborhood at any time with Lance and be safe,” said John Kingsley, construction manager for the agency. “It’s not because he’s big; it’s because of who he is.”

Thomas credits his street contacts and daily visibility for his success.

“I’m an educated street person here,” he said. “Now I’m straight and narrow. I have good rapport with people in the community and can deal also with white-collar people. I’d like to think they respect me. I credit it a lot to my attitude, my personality. Everyone I meet, or make eye contact with, I try to say hello.”

Neighbors began to recognize him when they saw him with his 9-year-old daughter, Amanda, who has Down syndrome. Amanda lives with foster parents but visits her father often. He hopes to soon be reunited with her permanently, he said.

He lives in a bungalow in a building the agency will develop for senior housing. Besides handling security, he also helps with gardening at the agency’s properties. When Michiel found Thomas, he had just gotten a lawn mower.

“I love making places that look really bad look really good,” he said.

During an early conversation, Michiel asked if he would like to own a house someday, Thomas said.

“Here I am, a long-haired guy living alone with no money,” he recalled. “I chuckled and said, ‘Sure.’ In my mind, I will come up to her in another year and have my money for my down payment for a house. I’m sure she thinks I’ve forgotten about that. I have a plan now.”