Alberto

Alberto“I used to get spit on,” Alberto says about the years he spent on the streets of New York. “I used to get beat up. I lost all my teeth. It was horrible.”

A shy, gentle Latino man of slight build, Alberto grew up in the Bronx. But he hardly remembers those days. His father, a restaurant owner, died when Alberto was an infant. After that, the family scraped by on public assistance. Things went from bad to worse when his mother married a violent alcoholic.

By his teen years, Alberto had fallen in with the wrong crowd. He committed a robbery and spent five years in prison. Upon release, he lasted only four days before he committed a crime simply to go back to prison.

“Up until then, the best time I ever had was in jail,” he says.

Alberto spent much of the following 14 years addicted, homeless and shuttling back and forth to Riker’s for petty crimes. He was arrested at least 60 times in those years.

In 2008, Alberto kicked heroin with the help of Bowery Residents’ Committee and got into supportive housing run by Palladia three months later, part of the Frequent User Service Enhancement (FUSE) program

Alberto credits Palladia with saving his life.

“They stay with you,” he says. “Being able to get back to a routine -- a normal life -- they know it’s not easy. They help you along the way.”

Today, Alberto is trained in building maintenance and boiler repair, is drug free, healthy and even has a new set of teeth.

Because of Palladia, Alberto says, “I have something to look forward to. There’s hope.”

Story courtesy of Palladia

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