Page A8
April 28, 1999
Hearing Reveals Human
(The ilortlanh(O bserver
fl
Services
Damaged
Low Wages Root of High Turnover, Poor Quality Care
abled, the homeless and abused.
n a hearing room filled w ith di
M allory Pratt, president o f O r­
rect care workers and their sup
egon Action, led o ff testim ony with
p o rters, M u ltn o m ah C o u n ty
Com m issioners heard in story after excerpts from theN orthw est JobG ap
Study, w hich pegs a living w age for
story that these employees, their fami­
a single person in Oregon at over $ 10
lies and their clients are dam aged by
per hour and for a family o f three at
low wages and poor benefits. Fifteen
over $ 16. The average w age for con­
care givers, em ployees ol non-profit
tracted mental health and develop­
agencies on contract with the County,
mental disability w orkers was only
testified to their own poverty, in­
$7.17 per hour in 1998, according to
debtedness, ill health, poor housing
a recent Direct Care Staffing Report
and overwork. Several clients and
o f O regon's D epartm ent o f H uman
client advocates, including two quad­
Resources (DHR) W hile above the
riplegics. testified to the deteriorated
minimum w age($6.50), the w age for
quality o f care w ith the high turnover
non-profit contract workers is more
o f care givers, caused by low wages.
than $2 below the market w age rate
Three non-profit agency heads agreed
for the same or sim ilar work, accord­
that low wages w ere a serious and
ing
to Oregon Employm ent Services.
growing problem in the industry.
Joan
Booth union president at
In this first step o f an unusual col­
CODA, a non-profit drug and alcohol
laboration by County government,
treatment center, testified that 25% ot
Jobs with Justice and the Living Wage
the workers she represents are eligible
Campaign, including labor unions,
for the OregonHealth Plan, foodstamps
community and taith-based organiza­
and
public housing assistance, 29%
tions, the hearing kicked o ff an effort
have
second jobs, 11% have a third
to move the state legislature to appro­
job,
18%
are without medical insur­
priately value the labor o f human ser­
ance
for
their
children, and 54° o are
vice workers. These workers serve
seeking employment elsewhere.
children, the elderly, the sick and dis
I
Tim Craw l, Executive D irectorof
the Oregon R ehabilitation A ssocia­
tion. unveiled the results o f a study
showing a 91% per year turnover
statewide (up from 72% in 1996)
among w orkers in non-profit agen­
cies serv ing the m entally ill and de-
velopmentally disabled. He noted that
the turnover is as high as 200% at
some local agencies. A ccording to
DHR, 8% o f positions are continu­
ally vacant, causing short staffing,
reduced client service and major
overtim e expenses. 14% o f positions
are "in transition" at any one time,
seriously im pacting stable client re­
lations Home bound clients testified
that the difficulty in retaining home
care w orkers could force them into
costly institutions.
Turnover in O regon’s state oper­
ated hum an service program s is only
19%, with direct care sta ff (state
em ployees) paid a first-year wage,
on average, o f $9.44 per hour.
The County Public A ffairs Coor­
dinator, G ina M attioda, reported that
the G overnor’s Proposed Budget al­
locates a tw o-percent CO LA (cost o f
living adjustm ent) for direct care
workers. O ther m easures before the
legislature that affect low-wage work­
ers are SB 1114 w hich increases
wages for hom e care w orkers and SB
1169 w hich allow s hom e care w ork­
ers to form a union and bargain for
better wages w ith a H om e Care Pro­
viders Com m ission.
County commissioners reaffirmed
their com m itm ent to act in accord
with their historic Living W age reso­
lution passed last O ctober, which
recognized that "em ployees o f non­
profit social and human service agen­
cies continue to experience low wages
and a lack o f benefits. The county’s
ability to affect those w ages is lim ­
ited because the O regon Legislature
c o n tro ls th e fu n d in g fo r th o se
co n tracts.. M ultnom ah County will
seek the support and cooperation o f
the living w age advocates and to­
gether with them will bring a strong
request to the 1999 O regon Legisla­
ture for a substantial increase in wages
and benefits for the em ployees o f
contractors that provide social and
human services."
Following Philadelphia’s Example
B y M arias W right E delman
I’ve written in this space before
about Freedom Schools, an educa­
tional enrichment program o f the
Black Com m unity Crusade forC hil-
dren (BCCC) that offers summ er
options to children ages 5-18 who
m ay otherw ise be idle, intellectually
underchallenged, unsupervised, un­
safe, or unfed. I want you to know-
more about them and tell you what is
planned for this summer.
Last year, F reedom S chools op­
erated at 32 sites across the co u n ­
try serving m ore than 2100 ch il­
dren. T his sum m er, w e ex p ect 43
sites w ill serve ov er 3000 c h il­
dren. T h ro u g h an ac tiv ity -b a se d
reading cu rricu lu m and a superb
collection o fb o o k s, children spend
sum m er h o u rs w ith p o sitiv e im ­
ages and role m o d els, gain a sense
o f th e ir ow n histo ry and culture,
and d isc o v er and d ev elo p their
in d iv id u al id e n tities and talents.
T h e C h i ld r e n ’s D e fe n se F und
(C D F ) an d th e B C C C p ro v id e
train in g and su p p o rt to s ta ff on
su p e rv isio n an d m anagem ent, the
reading cu rricu lu m , child d ev el­
opm ent, c o n flic t reso lu tio n , and
le ad ersh ip d evelopm ent.
T he F reedom S chool program
m odel is unique in that it serves two
generations o f young people - the
students enrolled in the program
and the co lleg e-ag ed adults o r ‘ser­
vant-leaders' who staff the program.
T hrou g h o u t the sum m er, college-
aged ad u lts act as teachers, role
m odels, and m entors and are re­
sponsib le for the d ay -to -d ay care
o f the children. E xperienced adults
and seaso n ed v eteran s serve as
sponsors and ad m in istrato rs to the
in d iv id u a l p ro g ra m s, p ro v id in g
guidance, leadership, and support
to the serv an t-lead ers throughout
the sum m er.
In a new ex p an sio n o f one c ity 's
F reedom S um m er 1999, the School
D istrict o f P h iladelphia w ill o per­
ate eight F reedom Schools sites
throughout the city serving 700 chil­
dren. D avid H ornbeck, S uperinten­
dent o f P h ilad e lp h ia’s S chools, has
appoin ted K enneth H oldsm an, D i­
rector o f S ervice L earning for the
S chool D istrict, to organize and
provid e o v ersig h t for this new co l­
laborative. U sing the highly suc­
cessful F reedom School m odel as a
foundation, the S chool D istrict is
c o o rd in a tin g a city -w id e y o u th
leadership d evelopm ent initiative
that w ill em ploy 140 high school
students as ‘ju n io rse rv a n t-le a d e rs’
w orking alongside 70 college-aged
servan t-lead ers to p rovide assis­
tance w ith d aily activ ities, p la n ­
ning, and classroom m anagem ent.
A certified teacher w ill be assigned
to each site to provide instruction
and p ro ject assessm ent. C hildren
w ho are enrolled in the program
and successfully com plete the sum ­
m er w ill receive S chool D istrict
academ ic credit. The ju n io r and
co lleg e-ag ed servant-leaders se rv ­
ing the sites w ill receive a stipend
for th eir participation.
P h ila d e lp h ia ’s c o lle g e -a g e d
ad u lts w ill jo in o th ers from across
the co u n try at the 1999 Ella B aker
C h ild P o licy T ra in in g In stitu te
co n v en ed at the form er A lex H aley
F arm in C lin to n , T en n essee and
th e U n iv e r s ity o f T e n n e s s e e -
K n o x v ille, June 13-20, 1999. A
se p arate train in g sessio n w ill be
co n d u c te d for th e ju n io r servant-
lead ers M ay 13-16, 1999 at the
fo rm er A lex H aley Farm . A co m ­
p reh e n siv e train in g h as b een d e­
sig n e d to en su re that the ju n io r
se rv a n t-lea d ers w ill h av e an u n ­
d erstan d in g o f the F reedom School
c o n c ep t an d vision.
This collaborative effort will en­
sure that three generations o f chil­
dren - school-aged, high school, and
college-aged - will be safe this sum ­
mer. They will have a high quality
sum m er experience, and 210 new
servant-leaders com m itted to their
co m m u n ity and each other w ill
e m erg e u n d e r th e P h ila d e lp h ia
S chool D istric t's leadership and
guidance.
This Freedom School and High
School Youth Leadership Initiative is
a city-wide partnership including the
M ayor’s Children and Families Cabi­
net, the Department o f Human Ser­
vices, the Private Industry Council,
and the School District o f Philadel­
phia. 1 would love to see more cities
across the country follow this model.
For m ore inform ation about this
effo rt or startin g a F reedom School
in y o u r co m m u n ity , p le ase call
K arm en Pinkney, BCCC P rogram
A ssociate, 202-662-3501. For m ore
inform ation about the B C C C , co n ­
tact B arbara K elley D uncan, N a­
tional D irector, B C C C , at 202-662-
3522. A lso, anyone in terested in
purchasing the Freedom School cur­
riculum guides and any o r all o f the
w onderful co llectio n o f ch ild re n ’s
books available to the young people
w ho attend each sum m er can call
CD F publications at 202-662-3652
Legacy Health
System
Announces First
Programs
Local children will benefit from
the first round o f donations through
Legacy Health S ystem ’s $ 10 million
C om m unity H ealth Fund, which was
e stab lish ed last y ear as part o f
L egacy’s m ission to im prove the
health o f the com m unity.
A fter extensive interviews with
com m unity advocates over the past
nine m onths to determ ine com m u­
nity need. Legacy chose children as
the prim ary focus for donations. Spe­
cific areas o f focus include: violence
prevention, ed u catio n literacy, and
early childhood em otional and be­
havioral developm ent. Funds are tar­
geted for five projects, totaling close
to $300,000 this year alone. In a
unique approach to making dona­
tions, each o f the organizations will
actually becom e partners with Legacy
H ealth System.
"L egacy has chosen to take the
unusual approach o f partnering with
organizations rather than ju st pro­
viding cash because we believe that
is how w e can really m ake an impact
in the com m unity," says The Very
Rev. A nthony C. Thurston. Legacy
Board M em ber and Chair o f the Com ­
munity Health C ommittee. "W e spent
a lot o f tim e establishing criteria and
then carefully choosing com m unity
projects that will help children grow,
learn and be healthy."
In two o f the selected program s.
Legacy em ployees will work with
existing literacy programs by becom ­
ing tutors and mentors to school-age
children. Legacy will also supple­
m ent an existing program o f Project
N etw ork by providing m ental health
services for young children o f women
with substance abuse issues. Another
donation w ill support a feasibility
study for developm ent o f a center for
behavioral and em otional develop­
m ental services for young children.
Legacy is also considering ways to
augm ent affordable child care ser­
vices in the com m unity.
"So much o fo u r em ployees’clini­
cal expertisecentersaroundchildren’s
health. We are excited about giving
our employees the opportunity to work
in the com munity and further dem on­
strate our com m itm ent to children."
says Sonja Steves, Vice President,
M arketingandCommunity Relations.
“ It is rare for a healthcare organiza­
tion to allow its employees to volun­
teer during the work day.”
Legacy announced establishment
o f the C om m unity Health Fund in
June 1998 follow ing an extensive
strategic planning process w hich
em phasized the importance o f focus­
ing on L egacy’s m ission to improve
the health o f the com munity. The
fund, an unusual com m itm ent from a
not-for-profit organizations, is a per­
m anent and stable source o f funds. It
is inaddition to L egacy’s long-stand­
ing practice o f making sm aller com ­
m unity donations and sponsorships
through the use o f operating funds.
All C om m unity Health Fund allo­
cations, up to $500,000 peryear, will
be determ ined by the Com m unity
H ealth Com mittee. Prior to announc­
ing the first round o f donations, the
C om m ittee spent several m onths es­
tablishing criteria and m ethods o f
evaluation. A m ong the key param ­
eters are a com m itm ent to leverage
L egacy's clinical expertise, identify
opportunities for both prevention and
intervention, and build partnerships
betw een Legacy and outside organi­
zations.T heC omm ittee i s c ompri sed
o f Legacy Board m em bers, a physi­
cian, church-appointed representa­
tive and com m unity members.
Legacy H ealth System is an O r­
egon-based not- for-profit healthcare
system w hich includes four hospi­
tals, a children's hospital, home health
agency, full-service research facil­
ity, prim ary care clinics and occupa­
tional m edicine clinics.
ORS High School Honor
Choir to Celebrate Mom
with Concert
T he O regon R epertory Singers
H igh S chool C h o ir w ill perform
their annual M o th e r’s D ay C oncert
at the A gnes F lanagan C hapel on
the L ew is and C lark C ollege cam ­
pus at 2:00 p.m . on M ay 9, 1999.
Program w ill feature ten m ove­
m e n ts o f J o h a n n e s B r a h m ’s
Z igeunerlieder and also pieces by
P a c h e lb e l, P a s c a n u , M a lc o lm
W illiam son, and Jean Belm ont.
G eneral adm ission tickets can
be p u rch ased at the door or through
th e O R S o ffic e a t2 3 0 -0 6 5 2 . Prices
are $10 for adults, $5 for all 18
years and under.
A bout the O R S H igh School
H onor choir. The ensem ble o f 25
vo cally talen ted stu d en ts is ap ­
proaching its fourth season, w hich
w ill include a tour o f greater O r­
e g o n and a p e rfo rm a n c e o f
V iv a ld i’s G loria. The choir, under
co n d u cto r D w ight U phaus, p er­
form s a broad range o f repertoire
in concert by them selves and w ith
O regon R epertory Singers and the
O RS C h ild re n ’s Choir. A uditions
for the 99-00 season will begin
M ay 18, 1999.
J
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