Boston program helping give people a ‘clean' start

BOSTON — A new program to clean up neighborhoods is helping people stay off those same streets.

The program is called Clean Corners. FOX25 followed some workers around Tuesday while they picked up trash along a stretch of Massachusetts Avenue known as the Methadone Mile.

The first stop is the corner of Melnea Cass Boulevard near the Boston Medical Center. The area is known as the Methodone Mile for its proximity to clinics.

“From Monday to Friday, we do this whole area,” supervisor Joel Reyes explained.

In just one day, the area is filled with trash and lots of needles.

“All of our guys or many of them have been in this area,” Project Place’s Alan Lehmann said. “And so they know what it's like. They're really setting an example, they're kind of ambassadors."

“I basically know half the people around here,” said Jose Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, a Boston native, has been working with Clean Corners for four months.

“I just got tired of the streets man. In and out, back and forth to jail. I had enough,” he said.

They work at least 20 hours a week getting paid minimum wage to clean up areas around Boston.

Neighborhood associations sign contracts that help fund the program. The workers receive job training and assistance to help find housing. Many of them leave after a few months for full time jobs.

“These are my guys. I don't call them crew, I call them family,” Reyes said.

“I'm incredibly proud of what our guys do out here. They do an amazing job. They've really changed the way it looks by the amount of time they've spent and getting the place cleaned up," said Lehmann.

For Rodriguez and the others, it's not just a job; it's a new chapter in their lives.

“I'm just trying to do the right thing here man. For me, for my kids, for my family,” Rodriguez said.

Clean Corners has also signed contracts with neighborhood associations in Chinatown and the Washington Gateway areas.

If you want to find out more about clean corners and other programs at Project Place, click here.

Cox Media Group