Mayor Washes Feet
I've always been skeptical of Mayor Gavin Newsom's Project Homeless Connect, a sort-of monthly media-friendly event where tons of services are offered to the homeless all on one giant day in a concert stadium downtown.
From a volunteer perspective, big volunteer "days of service" are completely bogus. The people who volunteer on those days are the ones who don't volunteer any other days- like the self-centered types who 'give up' their Thanksgivings to work at soup kitchens on the one day of the year their services are absolutely unnecessary.
What happens at these grand events is the people who volunteer all the time organize these days of pampering so that the annual volunteers do the minimal amount of work with the biggest amount of free meals and maximum amount of clapping for their efforts. Each annual volunteer is probably 15% as productive as someone who comes in regularly.
But these events are also made to trick those inefficient volunteers into giving money. Often the big volunteering days are ones where you get your company and friends to 'sponsor' you, like at an AIDS walk. In the end, more projects get done that day than would have otherwise, but more importantly the agencies who farm out the volunteers who do the real work all year round raise enough funds to continue doing so long after the annual volunteers have left.
Back to Project Homeless Connect: At the most recent and largest one to date, there were 2,124 volunteers serving 2,358 homeless people according to this puff piece in the SF Chronicle. That's nearly a one-to-one ratio.
Most of the services offered there are offered elsewhere throughout the city all the time- free clothing, housing services, various types of counseling and city services. One thing good about this project is that they're centralized so that the homeless can get lots of errands done in one day such as Methadone, HIV testing, food stamps, free food, and substance abuse counseling. Because lord knows their busy schedules don't allow them to just sit around waiting in lines... oh wait, all they do is sit around all day. But I guess this day saves them having to walk far.
Oh yeah, and just in case they had to walk far to get to this freebie bonanza, the homeless can get free foot washes and massages from volunteers including the mayor during the half-hour photo opportunity written about in the Chronicle story. Foot washing? I'm sorry about your Jesus complex.
Other bonus services include pet sitting, veterinary care, on-site shopping cart storage (even though the shopping carts are stolen from commercial businesses), dental screenings, eye glasses, and free books. When I was unemployed, spending all my savings and cashing out my IRA in order to make ends meet, all that stuff still cost money.
Newsom won the election on his Care Not Cash platform, the goal of which was to allow homeless better access to housing and services instead of handing out a cash stipend that was supposed to pay for those services. To me, the logic of the plan seemed simple: we'll help you out in a generous and respectful manner, as long as you respect the rules yourselves. You have access to everything you need to get you out of the bind you're in, but we can't just hand out checks and assume that you'll use it for good. Makes sense to me.
I'm just not sure where free books and foot massages fit into that plan.
From a volunteer perspective, big volunteer "days of service" are completely bogus. The people who volunteer on those days are the ones who don't volunteer any other days- like the self-centered types who 'give up' their Thanksgivings to work at soup kitchens on the one day of the year their services are absolutely unnecessary.
What happens at these grand events is the people who volunteer all the time organize these days of pampering so that the annual volunteers do the minimal amount of work with the biggest amount of free meals and maximum amount of clapping for their efforts. Each annual volunteer is probably 15% as productive as someone who comes in regularly.
But these events are also made to trick those inefficient volunteers into giving money. Often the big volunteering days are ones where you get your company and friends to 'sponsor' you, like at an AIDS walk. In the end, more projects get done that day than would have otherwise, but more importantly the agencies who farm out the volunteers who do the real work all year round raise enough funds to continue doing so long after the annual volunteers have left.
Back to Project Homeless Connect: At the most recent and largest one to date, there were 2,124 volunteers serving 2,358 homeless people according to this puff piece in the SF Chronicle. That's nearly a one-to-one ratio.
Most of the services offered there are offered elsewhere throughout the city all the time- free clothing, housing services, various types of counseling and city services. One thing good about this project is that they're centralized so that the homeless can get lots of errands done in one day such as Methadone, HIV testing, food stamps, free food, and substance abuse counseling. Because lord knows their busy schedules don't allow them to just sit around waiting in lines... oh wait, all they do is sit around all day. But I guess this day saves them having to walk far.
Oh yeah, and just in case they had to walk far to get to this freebie bonanza, the homeless can get free foot washes and massages from volunteers including the mayor during the half-hour photo opportunity written about in the Chronicle story. Foot washing? I'm sorry about your Jesus complex.
Other bonus services include pet sitting, veterinary care, on-site shopping cart storage (even though the shopping carts are stolen from commercial businesses), dental screenings, eye glasses, and free books. When I was unemployed, spending all my savings and cashing out my IRA in order to make ends meet, all that stuff still cost money.
Project Homeless Connect is breaking the myth that people do not seek assistance and services and would simply prefer to be on the street. The data proves that when people are approached in a respectful and kind manner, and with available resources, they are eager to accept help towards self-sufficiency.How does lining up for a ton of free stuff that even the average citizen doesn't have access to encourage self-sufficiency? If you put out free stuff, people come to get it, whether they're homeless or not. (See: radio concerts with free t-shirts.) It's pampering, and it encourages further homelessness. Many homeless people move here from other cities because SF has such a reputation of making life easy for them. Gee, I wonder why.
Newsom won the election on his Care Not Cash platform, the goal of which was to allow homeless better access to housing and services instead of handing out a cash stipend that was supposed to pay for those services. To me, the logic of the plan seemed simple: we'll help you out in a generous and respectful manner, as long as you respect the rules yourselves. You have access to everything you need to get you out of the bind you're in, but we can't just hand out checks and assume that you'll use it for good. Makes sense to me.
I'm just not sure where free books and foot massages fit into that plan.
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