Modesto program that pays unhoused, homeless people unveiled in ceremony
City, county and other local government officials attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for Hope Works at Modesto Gospel Mission on Friday. The program, now in its second month, held the ceremony in front of its new office space on the Gospel Mission’s Yosemite Boulevard property.
Hope Works is the replacement for Downtown Streets Team, a program that helped unhoused and homeless people transition into housing and secure jobs. The program, serving 16 communities in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, had nearly universal acclaim. Its participants, Modesto officials and homelessness advocates regularly praised its efforts.
In August, DST’s announcement that it was shuttering caught Modesto officials off guard — the city had a longstanding relationship with DST and spent millions of dollars on it since 2019. City staff scrambled to put together a replacement.
On Oct. 14, the City Council voted unanimously to create Hope Works as a substitute, partnering with United Way of Stanislaus County and the Gospel Mission to do so.
“This program was born out of a very real challenge,” said Keristofer Seryani, president of United Way of Stanislaus County, during Friday’s ceremony. “We see individuals who want to work, who want stability, who want dignity, but who face barriers that make traditional employment pathways difficult.”
While Hope Works aims to be a clone of DST, it has some key differences. Hope Works is set up to continue the services DST provided, including the latter’s highly praised trash-removal program. DST had deemed its members volunteers who, in exchange for beautifying the city, would receive stipends to pay for basic needs.
Unlike DST, Hope Works will hire its members as part-time employees, paying them minimum wage on a weekly basis. Hope Works’ members are hired through two temporary employment agencies that onboard them just like any other employees. That process includes drug testing, according to Hope Works’ program manager, Greg Meyer.
But before members can do any of that, Hope Works plans to continue another of DST’s services: document gathering. If a new member needs access to his or her birth certificate, Social Security card or any other important papers, the program will help. But it will require initiative from the potential employee as well, Meyer said.
“We basically begin case management the minute they walk in the door, we find out that they’re missing some essential documents in some cases,” he said. “So before they leave the office, we have an appointment with a Social Security office already set up. … These are things that they need to follow through. We need some commitment on their part.”
Other onboarding includes filling out tax documents, state-mandated sexual harassment training and the program’s own safety orientation. All of this, Meyer said, is something the office can help with.
Hope Works at work
The city’s goal is to have Hope Works employ 68 people; right now, it’s at 32. Meyer said the program wants to expand, but with “safe growth” during its pilot year.
Hope Works is still putting together its resources, like vehicles for transportation, drivers, safety gear and materials needed to do the hard work of mass trash removal. Currently, the program has only two caseworkers compared to DST’s five. But the hope is that as time goes on and funding increases, it can expand at a reasonable pace.
Still, Hope Works is already at work. Over 18 days, crews cleared 4,900 pounds of litter, according to Mayor Sue Zwahlen. They cleared nearly 2,000 of those pounds in a single day near Gospel Mission.
Other cleanup efforts underway include the streets and alleys of downtown Modesto, McHenry Avenue and Briggsmore Avenue. Crews often circle back on places they’ve already cleaned up, because litter tends to pile up again quickly, Meyer said.
The work is hard, too. One day, his crew walked all the way back to Gospel Mission from McHenry, racking up about 12,000 steps.
But the work appears to be paying off, as it did with many members of DST who thanked the program for unlocking opportunities they’d only hoped for.
Demetrius Englin, a Hope Works employee, said he was able to open his first bank account. He also said he received a certificate in his first reading, writing and comprehension class.
“Hope Works gave me a real chance. Since I joined the program, I have been changing in ways I never had experienced before,” Englin said.
Modesto has allocated $1.25 million for Hope Works during its pilot year. City Councilmembers Nick Bavaro, Jeremiah Williams, David Wright and Zwahlen attended the ceremony.
This story was originally published February 17, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
