The Unlikely Ascent of New York’s Compost Champion

At 17, Mr. Morales learned that his girlfriend was pregnant; they had a second child two years later. Mr. Morales found work as a hotel porter, a repairman, a computer technician. “I always mastered the job, it became very boring, the same thing over and over, and in most cases I was underpaid,” he said. After quitting a salad bar gig that paid $6.75 an hour, he sank into despair.

On one especially dark day, Mr. Morales was heading into his building when he saw a notice for Green City Force, a nonprofit that trains young people from public housing for solar installation, horticulture and other green jobs.