form of raise whenever it was available. At the end of my time, with the huge deficits accrued by CCS, there were three years during which no one received a raise.
If a staff person remained for more than 3 years their salary might reach the mid $30’s. If staff took on a new category of job, or management responsibility, their salary would increase because of this. Today, I would not pay anyone less than $15 per hour (a salary of $32.000 per year). This wage is a good starting place for a single adult and would be an example to those we served of a fair pay scale. (Catholic Charities and the Archdiocese did control salaries and benefits for all employees).
Staff committed from 2 to 10 years. Two staff members returned after trying other agencies and stayed for several more years. For many of our staff, this was their first professional job. They would work for two years; learn everything they would need to make more money and move on. I taught social workers, fundraisers, managers and religious. I understood notall staff could continue to live on the wages we paid.
When staff married things changed. A new baby would create a need for more resources. Sometimes even buying a new car was hard. But I told everyone who ever worked at Midtown, there is not enough money in the world to make our job easier and if you love the work and the people, the amount of money probably doesn’t matter. I also felt all of our jobs were equally important, only with different responsibilities. My job was no more (maybe less) important than a group worker leading an after- school group of 5th graders. I reminded staff of this whenever it seemed necessary.
As Director, people coming to the agency expected me to be in a private office. They thought they would need an appointment to see me, and that the work I did was all administrative. A new pastor from the church came to see me one day in late December. The receptionist told him I was helping deliver Christmas presents to families in the neighborhoods. He was very surprised I was doing this and not in the office managing the staff doing the work.
I felt it was my job to help our staff do their job. I needed to know the people from the community, their children and their needs. I did home visits, ran programs, led activities and when Joyce was pregnant with our daughter, I went back to doing group work with children and teens. I enjoyed our programs and services and was always happy to work with our neighbors because the people were why we did the work.
Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.
Norman Vincent Peale
OUR NEIGHBORS
The people who came to MIDTOWN lived in severe poverty. 88% of the families lived with incomes under $12,000 a year; less than 50% of the federal guidelines for poverty (2019) which place a family of four at $25,100. This group of Americans in poverty is growing the fastest. All of the families we served had incomes below the poverty level. 98% of the households were African American3.
Most heads of household were women, mothers or grandmothers, but we noticed a trend in more fathers taking care of their children alone. The average family included three people, usually a mother and two children. We also served single seniors and families up to 14 members. Often homelessness was reflected as multiple families living together in one home. Lack of affordable housing, high rates of unemployment, failing schools and poor policing created instability in our neighborhoods.
People often think of the poor as transient—homeless for a while, finding an apartment, getting behind in rent and moving out. Our neighbors were not. We found renters averaged 2 years in apartments which were not always in good condition. Some older homeowners, and families who inherited their homes from parents, had been in the neighborhoods for 7 to 40 years. Many seniors in the neighborhoods had been residents their entire adult lives.
Outsiders view urban neighborhoods as unstable. Our experience was one in which residents knew who could be trusted and where they could find support. Although poverty often causes isolation, we found people who would feed their neighbors children, let someone who lost their home move in with them and generally be Good Samaritans. Next-door neighbors, relatives in the area, churches and community organizations helped break down isolation and gave people places to become acquainted.
“There was a man going along a road who fell prey to robbers who left him half dead. A priest went by seeing him, passed on; so also, a lawyer did likewise.
But then a Samaritan came upon him and was moved to pity.
He cleaned and dressed his wounds and brought him to an inn, paying for his expenses…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
The Good Samaritan
OUR VOLUNTEERS
The new commandments Jesus gave were a fulfillment of those from the Old Testament. To love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself, summarized our beliefs. But loving God can only happen as you love your neighbor. Volunteers who came to help were great examples of the love of neighbor.
I was totally in awe of the effect volunteers had. People had told me volunteers were not dependable, they wanted to do what they wanted, they would be afraid of the neighborhoods (really the people in the neighborhoods) and they would not work well with professional social work staff. How wrong they were! From the first year through my final year, volunteers were a wonderful addition to everything we did. They were consistent and more often than not they wanted to do whatever we needed them to do. Even professionals did not push their experience on us. Most of the volunteers were strangers to an urban setting. However, only one older gentleman who wanted to volunteer did not return because his family was afraid of the neighborhood. Staff and volunteers worked so well together sometimes it was hard to tell who did what.
We had many volunteers. Young people from junior high through college came to do service projects, fulfill school requirements and complete their work to become Eagle Scouts or to receive Girl Scout badges. Retired people answered phones, helped deliver furniture to families and served on our boards. Mothers came to help new moms have fun at baby showers. Business people, professionals, educators and community members served on boards, committees and helped guide programming.
Some volunteers spent a day completing a project, while others spent their lifetimes with us. In 1990, Sylvia and Jeanne came to Midtown as our first volunteer receptionists. Jeanne continued until her untimely death and Sylvia can still be seen on Tuesday mornings. Our advisory board had volunteers who were not time-limited. Tony, Bob, Vince and others started in the 90’s and never stopped their involvement. Many other people joined them on our board and stayed involved for years.
Whenever a volunteer joined and stayed involved, I told them they were so important they could not leave. Since we didn’t pay them, they were even more important! The following article appeared in The NEIGHBOR to let volunteers know how much they were needed and appreciated.
The NEIGHBOR “YOU CAN’T LEAVE UNTIL THE WORK IS DONE!” May 2012
Two Sisters volunteered this year for their novitiate. Sr. Kelly and Sr. Precilla spent Mondays working with staff in the community. Sr. Precilla’s last day was April 30th. As everyone was saying goodbye, Sr. Precilla was told, “You can’t leave until the work is done.”
Craig and Sue Schoenfelder spent the last year doing service as members of the Ignatian Volunteer Corp (IVC). The IVC allows retired people to use their life and work experience in the community. Craig and Sue have wonderfully connected to Midtown. They finish their year in June and they too were told at staff meeting, “you can’t leave until the work is done.”
Midtown
