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Fresh Start


Last Update: 9/30/2009 12:21 pm
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WICHITA, Kansas -- In challenging times, it's sometimes hard to be optimistic. But a Wichita business is focusing on the greater good helping those down and out get a fresh start.

Community service and profit are generally two diametrically opposed concepts. Clayton Adams and his step-brother William Tripp are continuing a business that their uncle created in 1987. It's a residence for those who have no place to live and it’s an employment agency.

“We offer them residence, we do not require a deposit, first month's rent,” said Clayton. “They do sign an employment contract that's requiring them to work a certain number of hours. So once we find them employment, that's when their rent kicks in.”

Their downtown studio apartment building has 18 units with enough room to house 44 residents in roommate situations.

“Each of the 18 apartments is a studio set up so they have their own kitchenette, bath facilities, and a common living space,” Clayton said.

Many of the residents are in recovery, however, they stress that many others have just reached rock bottom after losing a job and home.

The business becomes profitable if just 20 of the potential 44 residents are working and paying rent.

Many peoples’ immediate reaction to having a residence that houses people who are recovering would be negative -- they wouldn't want it in their neighborhood. But William and Clayton tell KSN that since they have been here, they've actually cleaned up the neighborhood. Not only because they provide the physical labor to actually clean it up, but because with Fresh Start, just the presence deters the kind of activity that you wouldn't want in a neighborhood.

“I think that it's an example of a private industry taking a step in a social direction where we can actually help the community, help society, and there's money to be made in that industry,” said Clayton.

Residents sign a contract and are required to be available during working hours. Many of them are recipients of assistance from other agencies.

Fresh Start requires that they give back. While they are waiting for employment, they will volunteer with Habitat for Humanity or the Kansas Food Bank. Clayton and William see a bright future for fresh start.

“I think that any major metropolitan area has a need for a program like ours,” Clayton said. “We are 100 percent private company. We don't take a cent from the taxpayers.”

The brothers hope to expand Fresh Start into Topeka and Kansas City and then they will look into franchise opportunities.

The Fresh Start office is located at 428 N. Emporia in downtown Wichita. It can be reached at 262-2510.



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