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WHERE IMAGINATION
AND COMPASSION MEET
VISION 2015 – NEW SOLUTIONS
by Bob Pratt,
President
Volunteers of America of Greater Los Angeles
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download
a PDF version of the full text.
Volunteers of
America of Greater Los Angeles (VOALA) is committed to bringing
solutions to social problems, not just bandages. In the next
ten years, we will pioneer new approaches that will move beyond
assisting families and others in need to creating positive
lasting changes in neighborhoods and communities. To accomplish
this, we will not pursue additional costly social services but
will create interventions in the spirit of Malcolm Gladwell’s
popular The Tipping Point: “Look at the world around
you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is
not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can
be tipped.”
We believe that
cost is a central issue. Since the launch of the Great Society
in 1965 an estimated $11 - $12 trillion has been spent by
federal, state and local government to alleviate poverty. The
theory behind this massive investment is that change happens
from the “outside in,” that is, people change when they receive
a menu of entitlements.
At the risk of
being a bit philosophical, one of VOALA’s core values is that
real change happens from “the inside out.” When people begin to
think differently, seeing options available to them that they
never imagined, they choose to embark on a life changing
journey. And their journey is infectious, influencing those
around them and rippling out.
And best of all,
helping people begin to think differently is a very inexpensive
proposition.
VOA has already
undertaken a couple of experiments, epitomized in the
imaginative activities of Juana and Gary.
Juana is
the parent of a child enrolled in VOALA’s Head Start program
in North Hollywood. For the past three years VOALA has been
operating a highly successful micro-credit program for its
Head Start parents so that they can generate supplemental
income that makes the difference between them staying in
poverty or becoming self-sufficient. VOALA also recently
began a social entrepreneur program, providing one year of
salary and benefits for individuals with a unique vision and
vibrant passion to utilize free market principles to benefit
the community, in the end creating a self-sustaining
business. Incidentally, VOALA was introduced both to
micro-credit and social entrepreneurism by volunteers.
Juana noticed
that some of VOALA’s mostly female micro-credit entrepreneurs
were experiencing tension at home because their husbands were
threatened by their success. In response she designed the La
Familia Retreat. With the help of a seasonal private
campground at a nearby mountain location and assistance from a
cadre of volunteers and donations of food from her church, she
devised an inexpensive $75 weekend retreat for couples. The
couples spend two days in workshops designed to offer them a
way to organize their lives together as if they were running a
joint business effort. The sessions take a great deal of the
personal ego out of the equation as to who makes what while
allowing free time for the couples to relax and enjoy their
time in the mountains together.
The model worked well but Juana
discovered that to run these sessions on a continuing basis
would be considerably more expensive than the $75 fee. She
developed a detailed business plan and has applied to the social
entrepreneur volunteer selection panel for a one year grant.
She hopes to now get on with her real work, making La Familia
Retreat a viable business that would make a very real difference
in her community – and beyond.
Gary is a
24 year old veteran whose life as a child and teen was very
chaotic. He was shuttled from one foster care family to
another from the age of four because his father was in prison
and his mother was a heroin addict and, not surprisingly, he
suffered from attention deficit. He acted out in school and
barely escaped the juvenile justice system. At 18 he enlisted
in the Army and received an honorable discharge four years
later. Unfortunately he became addicted to crack cocaine and
ended up living on the street in Los Angeles’ skid row,
supporting his drug habit through petty crime.
In September of
2003, he saw a flyer posted on a skid row telephone post
announcing a new VOALA initiative called ADRO (Accessing
Dignity, Respect and Opportunity), which was conceived by a
VOALA volunteer. The ADRO strategy is to create a cultural
shift from a predominant atmosphere of hopelessness and
despair to one where people realize that they have real
choices and then exercise them, especially obtaining
employment and securing permanent housing outside that
neighborhood.
Gary
instinctively embraced the power of this culture change
message and, after attending the initial ADRO community
meeting, took leadership in devising and implementing a number
of activities, including a skid row renaming contest, banners
and flyers in the neighborhood proclaiming the new values and
outlook, and an ADRO information and suggestion booth at
VOALA’s Downtown Drop-in Center. Gary has been drug free
since September, has secured a job and housing, and works
passionately on ADRO, which impressively already boasts almost
150 volunteer “enculturators” from the skid row and wider
community, during his off hours.
Is it presumptuous
to think that VOA is the one to pioneer breakthroughs in how the
Los Angeles community deals with its social problems? Not when
you look at our history and current accomplishments. For the
past 40 plus years the organization has targeted three client
groups that represent growing taxpayer costs and severely
threaten the wellbeing of the community. One is children and
youth in poverty who are poised for recycling as the next
generation of teen mothers, absentee fathers and welfare
recipients. Another is youth and adults, including homeless and
veterans, who are a significant risk for drug abuse, crime and
violence. Finally, VOALA reaches out to frail homebound elderly
who seek to remain in their own homes, thereby reducing the
mounting costs for convalescent care.
Examples of the
success of our services abound.
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In 1965, VOALA
opened its Early Head Start and Head Start programs, since
then providing early childhood education and family
strengthening for thousands of infants, toddlers and
preschoolers living in poverty. One of these was two year old
Marian. In 1972 her parents were living out of a station
wagon at Hansen Dam in the San Fernando Valley. They were
referred to VOALA’s 500 unit affordable housing and child care
center in North Hollywood. The family was housed in an
apartment while Marian enrolled in Early Head Start. The
parents were both accepted into a nearby job training program
and obtained employment as cooks. Five years later the family
was able to buy its own home. Today Marian, a college
graduate, has her own family and is an executive with an
insurance company.
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Since 1978,
VOALA has operated its Positive Alternatives program for
elementary age youngsters from single parent families living
in deteriorating neighborhoods in South Los Angeles. Its
focus has been matching up the at risk families with stable
families from local churches in long-term family-to-family
mentoring relationships. Marcus and his mother were on
welfare, victims of an abusive husband and father, living in
the midst of drugs and gang violence in Nickerson Gardens, one
of Los Angeles’ most notorious housing projects. They were
“adopted” by a family from Tabernacle of Faith Baptist who had
moved to West Los Angeles but remained part of the
congregation. Marcus and his mother began spending time with
the family weekly, including attending church with them on
Sunday. In the ensuing 18 months the mentor family assisted
Marcus’ mother to find a job and move out of public housing.
Marcus is now an eighth grader doing well in school with an
ambition to become a policeman.
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In 1971, VOALA
was funded by Upward Bound for low income middle and high
school students who will be the first in their families to
attend college. The program now operates in North Hollywood,
Central Los Angeles and Huntington Beach and supports youth at
risk of school drop-out to not only complete high school but
go on to postsecondary education, ranging from trade school to
university. Over the past 33 years Upward Bound has a
remarkable track record of postsecondary education enrollment
of 94% of its students. One of the program’s graduates is
Shawna. For as long as she can remember her only house was
motel rooms she shared with her mother who suffers from
chronic mental illness. Shawna entered the Upward Bound
program when she was a seventh grader attending an inner city
school. Despite having every reason to fail, she faithfully
attended Upward Bound classes every Saturday and participated
each summer in the 6 week Upward Bound residential education
program at a local college. In her senior high school year
she was accepted at all four universities to which she
applied, Harvard, Yale, Cal Berkeley and Stanford. She
enrolled at Stanford and, supported by scholarships and loans,
graduated with honors in 2003. She is now enrolled at the
Stanford Law School, studying constitutional law.
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VOALA opened its
first re-entry program for ex-offenders returning to the
community from prison in 1948. One of its current programs is
a 65 bed Women’s Restitution Center located near downtown Los
Angeles. Women convicted of non-violent offenses are remanded
here for up to 3 years in lieu of prison so they can continue
their employment and pay back their victims. Margaret, a
single mother with two teenagers worked in the accounting
office of a local college. After becoming addicted to
methamphetamines she began embezzling funds at the workplace.
Convicted of a felony, Margaret entered the VOALA center in
May, 2003. She was able to keep her job and is paying back
the college. By her own account, the most important aspect of
her being allowed to remain in the community is maintaining
contact with her children at a critical time in their lives.
While she is not allowed to be away from the center except
during work hours, they are able to visit her there every
weekend.
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VOALA operates
five programs serving homeless veterans. One of them, funded
by the Department of Labor, provides job training and
placement. Norm was born in Washington, DC and served in the
Navy from 1995 through 1999. Shocked upon discharge to find
that his wife with their two children had moved in with
another man, he went into an emotional tailspin, ending up
homeless and drug addicted on the streets of downtown Los
Angeles for almost three years. In December, 2002, after four
unsuccessful tries, he entered the VOALA detoxification
program and completed nine months of recovery. Because he had
experience in telecommunications and electrical installation
in the Navy a VOALA job developer was able to place him in a
well paying position with an aerospace subcontractor in
Burbank. He regularly comes back to the program to share his
success with other homeless veterans and consistently receives
stellar reports from his employer.
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Since 1949 VOALA
has been delivering thousands of meals each day to frail
homebound elderly. We also provide a wide range of other
services, including shopping assistance and friendly phone
visiting, geared to helping them remain independent in their
own homes. Grace is a case where the program was a life
saver. She is an 84 year old widow living on a fixed income
who has been receiving home delivered meals from VOALA for
sixteen years. She says the visit from our volunteer is the
high point of her day. One day last fall she did not answer
our volunteer’s knock at the door. Immediately concerned, the
volunteer called 911. When the paramedics arrived and forced
their way into the apartment they found Grace in a diabetic
coma on the floor and immediately transported her to the
hospital. The doctor said that if she had not been found that
day she likely would not have survived.
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The volunteers
delivering meals to the elderly began to notice that some of
their seniors had companion animals but could not afford pet
food. They then found that these seniors were feeding part of
their home delivered meal to their pets. In response VOALA
initiated the Senior Companion Animal Program to deliver
donated pet food and supplies to these seniors for whom a dog
or cat is the most important thing in their life.
Additionally the program raises funds to provide veterinary
care and grooming. Evelyn is a 98 year old who is almost
blind and lives alone. Her life revolves around her twelve
year old cat, Patti. With a big smile Evelyn describes how
Patti “loves to be rocked on my lap, just like a little baby,
and if I stop she looks up and paws my chin until I start
rocking again.” Without VOALA support Evelyn would have not
been able to keep her beloved cat. Patti now needs medication
for a thyroid condition. A Companion Animal volunteer takes
the cat to the vet for periodic check-ups and makes sure that
the prescription is refilled.
Today VOALA
operates with an annual $35 million budget, supporting more than
30 programs, including about 1500 units of housing for low
income families and seniors, that touch the lives of 30,000
people each year. We are fiscally very conservative, a ‘lean’
administration with almost 90% of expenses going to direct
services. We are considered one of Los Angeles’ best managed
non-profits both in terms of program excellence and fiscal
control. Fundraising costs are low because we extensively
utilize Hollywood celebrities for our special events, for
example, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
We are also
entrepreneurial, committed to becoming more self-sufficient.
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We have
developed a food business, La Voa, that utilizes our large
commercial kitchens off hours and has produced a line of
healthy gourmet soups and is now developing a full line of
foods for supermarket shelves. La Voa provides job training
in culinary arts for at risk youth while the proceeds are used
to add seniors on the waiting list to our meals-on-wheels
program.
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We are building
on the legacy of Angels Attic, the preeminent
miniatures and doll museum in Santa Monica, both to generate
income for our services and extend our mission to additional
disadvantaged children and low income seniors at a unique and
beautiful venue.
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We are in the
process of acquiring another non-profit that operates services
for the homeless and that owns income producing commercial
properties which we believe can generate increased revenue.
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We have just
received a long-term $1 per year lease for three acres of DWP
property in North Hollywood where we plan to establish a
nursery and landscaping business which will at the same time
provide job training for unemployed veterans.
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We
are about to receive at no cost between 150 and 200 three and
four bedroom homes in an attractive San Pedro neighborhood,
part of a Navy base closure, to provide up to five years
transitional housing for formerly homeless families, including
veterans. As these families’ incomes increase they will be
able to pay higher rents that will create a surplus that can
be reinvested in other critical community services.
How can all
this good work not be good enough? Just look at our Los
Angeles community. Serious social problems that threaten the
wellbeing of the entire community continue to fester and worsen
despite the expensive and well-intentioned efforts of
non-profits and government. Whatever the opinions about why
this distressing scenario persists, the one thing that is clear
to us is that new remedies must be discovered that promise
permanent solutions to this community’s social ills. It is also
clear that these remedies must access leverage points, producing
multiplier effects of positive change.
How can that
happen? Not without you. Remember at the beginning of this
discussion that three of our more creative initiatives,
micro-credit, social entrepreneurism and
neighborhood culture change were brought to this
organization by three volunteers new to VOALA and continue to be
driven by them and other volunteers they have recruited.
VOALA’s vision to
transform the social landscape of Los Angeles by 2015 will be
realized through new thinking and new ideas that will be brought
to us from outside – by you and others like you.
Together we can make a difference, not merely by dreaming a new
future, but by acting to make it real, now. This future demands
risk taking and bold experiments. With each new volunteer
stepping forward, a new realm of opportunity opens up, taking us
closer to that dream for a healthy vibrant Los Angeles.
We desperately
need your support, financial, yes, but even more your passion,
creativity and energy. I guarantee you one thing, if you do get
involved, you will take away with you more than you give. This
is your opportunity to create a legacy.
You Can Help
"Where
Imagination and Compassion Meet,"
click here to
download
a PDF version of the full text.
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