Matching people who need jobs with work
Start-ups aim to foster income and dignity
Lewis Evans became a self-described serial entrepreneur because of injustices he says he saw and experienced while growing up in Northeast Baltimore.
In one vividly etched boyhood memory, he recalls how police put him in a cruiser in a case of mistaken identity and how he ran home to his mother in tears.
Because of such experiences, “I just felt helpless,” Evans said. “For me it turned into a rebellion. Instead of accepting the status quo and saying this is just the way it is, I felt that being in business gave me control.”
After running a trucking business that transported air freight for UPS, he looked for a way to combine a startup with his longtime activism to bring jobs to low-income neighborhoods. He started On Demand LaborBaltimore, a construction and building-related staffing company that finds temporary jobs for mostly low-income men from poor city neighborhoods, in 2013 after completing a college construction supervision program. On Demand has placed about 2,000 workers, and with the growth of the business, Evans was able to stop leasing and buy his own office building on Park Avenue.
Earlier this month, he launched USA Staffers, a health care staffing firm that matches mostly women with medical assistant, certified nursing assistant, dental assistant and companion jobs at doctors’ offices and nursing homes.
“The key to changing the economic condition and changing the black experience in America is simply jobs,” Evans said. “There are so many things that come with jobs.”
Evans said he has built strong relationships with employers by requiring hires to adhere to strict rules regarding dress and language on the job.
He said the employees he’s met have inspired him. One worker, who had been ill, told Evans after being hired that he wanted to leave his young daughter with the memory of her father as a working person. The man later died.
“This is what makes my life so beautiful,” Evans said. “We have to remember that little girl. We have touched her life.”
“I love payday,” Evans said. “Payday for me is when I see guys who hadn’t been working come pick up a paycheck and bring their children along.”
Lewis Evans
Age: 58 Title: Owner, On Demand Labor-Baltimore and USA Staffers Previous job: Owner, Evans/Brown Transportation Inc. Birthplace: Baltimore Education: pursuing B.A. in environmental science and Human Ecology Family: Married to Jane Brown for 15 years; two daughters, three grandchildren.