The Next Chapter of My Life
Everything happens for a reason, I’ve always believed. Good, bad and in between, whatever the experience, our job is to learn from it so we can grow.
I work for a nonprofit agency that provides supportive housing for people living with HIV/AIDS. I work in a department that provides technical assistance to other city-wide AIDS housing and service agencies. The program I am in offers alternative dispute resolution (ADR) training and direct mediation services to staff and clients of these agencies, as a way of giving them skills for resolving their own disputes before they escalate to a level of physical confrontation, warranting police intervention, criminal or civil action.
In AIDS housing, we are dealing with people who may have endured long-term homelessness. They may have limited experience living in a structured environment. In addition to being infected with the virus, they may also have a multiplicity of other problems--substance abuse, mental illness, minimal life or job skills, previous incarceration, etc. To assist them in making the adjustment to a permanent housing situation--and the pursuit of any of their other goals--our agency and others offer a variety of services including case management, medical assistance, job training and the like.
The funding for my program, and much of our agency’s services, comes from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and their Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) initiative. We are currently in the third year of a three year contract to provide ADR services. We are one of two such programs in New York City.
Last week, my supervisor, co-worker and I, who together staff the conflict resolution program, were informed that when the contract ends on June 30, 2004 it will not be renewed. At the federal level, funding for such services is being discontinued.
As was explained to us in an agency-wide staff meeting today, the Bush administration has new priorities. They supposedly want to put the “H” back in HUD, preferring to concentrate solely on funding for housing, and not the services that enable people to redirect their lives. They have told AIDS housing organizations to seek funding for supportive services from the other government agencies more appropriate to that work, like Health and Human Services (HHS). The Catch-22 is, those agencies don’t have any money to give, and in the midst of the largest deficit in the nation’s history and a war on terrorism, such money isn’t likely to be found any time soon.
So while we send $87 billion to Iraq for a war that didn’t need to happen (did we ever find those weapons of mass destruction?), and GOP funders like Halliburton and Bechtel win government contracts to receive the bulk of that money, domestic programs that help real people in need go begging. And yours truly now has to go look for another job.
Posted by bernie at December 11, 2003 9:40 PMDamn. I wish you luck man - the job market out there is rough.
Posted by: karsh at December 11, 2003 10:35 PMI won't wish you luck. Just happy trails because I'm absolutely confident that you will land a better, fulfilling job before your current one ends.
Posted by: ronn at December 11, 2003 11:38 PMLet me know how I can help Bernie... it's an election year.. I'm feeling there will be this mysterious "boom" in the job market.
Posted by: Bernard at December 12, 2003 4:55 PMI swear, Bush and his administration are the devil and his deamons at work.
I hope things take a turn for the better out of all of this for you.
Posted by: Prime at December 12, 2003 6:25 PMI'm holding out hope for a new and better gig for you, and I'll keep my eyes peeled accordingly.
Posted by: George at December 13, 2003 6:51 AMbernie, i have been thinking about this since our conversation. i do want to talk more with you about what you want to explore.
Posted by: kevinrscott at December 16, 2003 8:02 AM