To Serve With Love

Talk about throwing spaghetti against the wall and just hoping that something sticks… well good luck to that idea.  This is what some would say is how to view the growing list of “let me do this for you and not include you in the process kind of stuff.”   If you do not know or aware, many of the social ills that are affecting the community also include… jobs.  I am not just talking about so, so, minimum wage employment, but real livable wage jobs. 

Operating a community base or what is commonly referred to as a “grass roots” agency is “big business.”  I mean really big business, just think about… it takes people to run the agency, do the case work, research, writing grants, build collaborative partnerships, seek out sponsors, organize community events, fundraising, staff, project leads, and search for agency broad members.  In many cases the list of jobs attached to a given non-profit or agency is quite lengthy.  This is called…“Overhead.” 

There are also watchdog groups, which also are full of “jobs” as well, that monitor what non-profits do, how much they spend on overhead, services and programs.  You need to see what they found out…“I mean about non-profits.” It’s enough to grow hair on your head and raise one’s blood pressure.  It is all being done in the name of outreach, community service, filling the gap and meeting perceived needs.  Shocking…isn’t it.  Let me tell you it is alarming.        

Today, there are enough non-profits and social services agencies in our communities that something should be happening or been solved at least by now.  Especially, when you consider what continues to occur in the inner city, one can only question, whether or not the money being donated to non-profits and alike is being used effectively.  In any rate, the accounting for these non-profits in recent reports cite that very little money is making its way down to address the problems.   In addition, there are also indicators of maleficent, sloppy bookkeeping and compliance to laws and regulations.   To add insult to injury many people who are employed by these so called agencies do not live in the community in which they work, provide few services and cannot be found to participate in any noteworthy event.  These are really “red flags” as far as I can see it.  

Using the socioeconomic status data of any community in order to make a proposal a “winning” proposal is just morally wrong, especially when the real intent is not to make the community better, but to make sure that someone has a good paying job.  I am not saying that all non-profits are bad, misguided or not doing something worthwhile, but like in every batch of apples, there is at least one or two that are causing considerable harm.  Here is my take, before you give, be sure that you ask plenty of questions… “For action speaks louder than words.”