In staffing his organic-oriented Fresco Community Market in Montecito Heights early last year, Jon Murga looked for employees in an unlikely place: skid row. He hired 11 people then and one this month through a job development program at the Los Angeles Mission. Most were trying to stay off drugs, alcohol or both as they struggled to exit the ranks of the homeless. Some were trying to put criminal convictions in the past. To Murga, 47, it is the right thing for employers in the community to do: "It's possible to change the conversation about the homeless situation." Still, hiring skid row's denizens is a risk that few small businesses are willing to take, said Allen Ceravolo, who runs the...
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