Both Sides Are Wrong - Again!

In March of 2012 I posted a piece about a controversy in the Town of Middlesex, NY concerning the placement of sex offenders with developmental disabilities in a group home setting. The full post can be seen here.

Well the issue has come up again, with a vengeance. It seems the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities went forward with more placements of individuals listed as sex offenders in a number of towns and villages in the western NY area as a continued part of the closure of the Monroe Developmental Center. Here's a news report on the latest situation and protest in West Seneca, NY - click here.

Now remember, the first placements occurred in March of 2012 in Middlesex, NY. Although I've linked my entire post above, here is how I ended the article:

"So there is a dilemma for NYS - here they are trying to close a few institutions across the state where a fairly small number of these people reside. Questions need to be asked. If these individuals weren't in these institutions now, where would they be? Probably in the criminal justice system or unsupervised in the community I would guess. Now I'm a strong believer in the fact that no one benefits from an institutional setting. But how should these folks be dealt with? Where should they live? What supports do they need?

Here's my opinion for what it's worth. NYS should convene a set of experts, providers and community leaders, including elected officials and municipal leaders, to develop the plan that's needed for this population and for these closures. Plans are not going to be the same for every person or every community. It's going to take shared resources. Communities where placement and supports occur are going to need to have supports in place and this is going to take resources and communication. None of it will take place with finger pointing or blaming or position taking about who's right and who's wrong. It won't help for people to paint pictures of monsters either.

As I said early on, this really is an example of both sides being wrong. Hopefully some lessons have been learned and both sides will be a little more respectful of each other."

I know the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities was aware of these comments as were various statewide advocacy and provider organizations. It's sad that it seems no one listened, followed or considered any of these recommendations. Instead, the Governor's budget has and continues to include the reduction of behavioral health supports in local communities. In the end all of the communities involved as well as the people placed in these homes have suffered. Certainly the issue is difficult and complicated, but unless it's talked about openly and planned for appropriately there will be more harmful consequences down the road.

Being Irish - What's It All About?

Off in the horizon, as winter continues her brutal onslaught in the Finger Lakes and around the country, I see the season of St. Patrick coming toward me. What a welcome sight for it's a sure sign of spring! Oh I wish I could see it a bit more clearly.

There's something about the Irish. Something about being Irish or being of Irish descent.  I've wondered and thought about it quite a bit and my comments here are related to my experiences with many Irish families and friends including my own.

Here are some of the basics that I've discovered about the Irish. They can sing and they love music. Sometimes it's loud and rowdy and at other times sweet and soft and filled with love and emotion, a thing of beauty.

The Irish have a big personality that's wrapped up in story telling as well as the singing already mentioned. Making fun of themselves and you are part of the deal. They, the storytellers, can be as large as life itself even if held within a small bodily frame. The stories live, they move, they're like a movie or a show and the audience is always welcomed to participate. And yet, and yet, there's always a melancholy or sad side waiting to emerge at a moment's notice. Sometimes it's to share someone else's burden or sometimes just to let an emotion come to the surface as a relationship or thought is remembered. Tears come easily as well as hugs and slaps on the back and a laugh or two.

When telling stories, truth is somewhat relative. If a bit of an untruth is told it's only to make the point a bit more clear as well as to have fun in the telling. The stories are also visual. Pictures are painted with words that help you understand. Very pretty pictures.

Relationships are easy and hard at the same time. For those comrades and family members that are part of a close circle, emotions are raw and easy. For those on the outer edges, which sometimes includes family members, trust or lack thereof may produce a huge standoffishness. A mean or angry Irishman is someone nobody wants to be near because the nastiness can get downright wild. In the end though, loyalty and great love are symptoms of celtic heritage.

As Congress and others fight about immigration I can only think of my own grandmother as a young teenager walking hand in hand with her young brother from Ballyfarnon to Sligo. The walk was about 30 miles. I'm sure they weren't carrying much besides the $15 to $20 they had in their pockets. Perhaps a suitcase or a bag. It was the turn of the century (1901 or there about) and they were off to take a boat to America and NYC. Mother and father back in the village knowing that they would probably never see their children again. Talk about hardy stock, travels and hardships.

There are many like me with Irish heritage around the world and we, like our fore bearers, find it easy to laugh, cry, tell stories, sing, dance, and every once in awhile get really annoyed and angry. Our emotions are literally on our sleeve, especially when it comes to real or even perceived injustice.

It's less then a month to that day I see on the horizon and I can't wait.

More Conversations Needed On Race & Justice

After the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial in the death of Trayvon Martin, there was a call for communities and groups to have conversations about Race & Justice. I'm lucky to live in an area where people took that seriously and as the conversations developed, I became involved with a small group who were and are leading that effort. The conversations have been important and good - talking with people about jobs, economic issues and most recently about health care. Basically the conversation has evolved into how diversity and diverse populations are impacted by all of these things. We've talked about the elderly, minority populations, religious differences, etc. Now the reality is that my community is pretty white. But there is diversity. There is a large Mennonite population that is sometimes misunderstood or left out. There is a Hispanic population associated with the agricultural nature of the local economy.

After our last meeting on health care everyone was feeling pretty good. There was lots of participation, alternative suggestions  on how people get and communicate information. In many ways, we got comfortable about our conversation. We talked about meeting again in March, struggling a bit with where to go next. And then it happened! A new verdict coming out of Jacksonville, Florida. A mistrial was declared on the First Degree murder charge for Michael Dunn in the death of Jordan Davis. Dunn was found guilty on all of the other charges.

There has been confusion and frustration at the verdict. I haven't heard anyone criticize the jury, the judge or the prosecutors, but there is frustration and concern and I share it.

I think it points out that we can't have these conversations soon enough. We also can't dance around the issues. We have to try to talk this through. The question or the point, is very basic - should our children, any of our children, be open to shootings or death by any means because they play loud music or wear a hoodie? My own opinion is that none of our kids deserve this. But what values are in play that allow white men to shoot others where black men would be punished immediately. Ten shots fired in self defense or standing ground.

But that's just my opinion. There are others and there are struggles in understanding how people act certain ways - playing loud music, carrying guns, etc. Conversations about Race & Justice really do need to take place all over the place. People really do need to talk through values and reasons why. We'll be better for it. Let's get started.

Valentine's Day

As we celebrate Valentine's Day in many different ways, I thought a few quotes from visionaries and heroes could help focus things a bit more clearly:

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” —  Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. civil rights leader and Baptist minister

“When the power of Love will overcome the love of Power, the world will know Peace.” — Jimi Hendrix, visionary singer songwriter and instrumentalist

“Where there is love, there is life.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“Whenever I groan within myself and think how hard it is to keep writing about love in these times of tension and strife which may, at any moment, become for us all a time of terror, I think to myself: What else is the world interested in? What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all our relationships? God is Love. Love casts out fear. Even the most ardent revolutionist, seeking to change the world, to overturn the tables of the money changers, is trying to make a world where it is easier for people to love, to stand in that relationship to each other…There can never be enough of it.” — Dorothy Day, American journalist, activist and co-founder of Catholic Worker Movement

“I call them all love songs … They tell of love of man and woman, and parents and children, love of country, freedom, beauty, mankind, the world, love of searching for truth and other unknowns. But, of course, love alone is not enough.” — Pete Seeger, American folk singer songwriter and environmental and social justice activist

A Reality Check For Government On Minimum Wage & Living Wage

It's easy for politicians to support an increase in the minimum wage. It also seems it may be easier to oppose it. But then again everything's relative. Depends on where you live, who your constituents are, etc. But there is a strong and needed movement for an increase in the federal minimum wage and more and more pressure on communities and employers to support a living wage that allows people to afford the basics as it were. No one can live very well on the current minimum wage. And yet there are families and children who do it every day.

As usual, the public seems to be ahead of government officials on this issue. Of course the public is also much closer to the situation - buying groceries, clothing and gas among other things. Also in knowing real people, sons and daughters in many cases, who are impacted every day by low wages and what are more and more commonly and unattractively referred to as low wage jobs.

These low wage jobs are not of low importance or low consequences. As a matter of fact, they are sometimes of great and critical consequence like caring for loved ones and vulnerable people. They are important jobs that need great and caring people.

Politicians find it easy to blame everyone but themselves. So it's not surprising that when the discussion turns to minimum wage, politicians target private sector employers. You know, the Walmarts, McDonalds and all of those retail and food service entities who are hiring people at minimum wage and keeping these folks in the class of the working poor. These are the folks who control people's hours so they aren't eligible for benefits, etc.

But there's more to this story. Many people making minimum wage or a bit more work for non-profit organizations who receive their funding from the government. Surprise, surprise! So the government and elected officials can express outrage at low wages but in the end, the government and elected officials are a big part of the problem. For these organizations to increase wages, there has to be a recognition and commitment by government that funding for these services has a direct relationship to wage expenditures and will have to be increased. An initial reaction by government is that revenues just need to be readjusted. Cut administrative waste. Reduce spending on bricks and mortar. The reality is that any good administrator, and there are many, has already acted on those areas. The real cost in most of these organizations is in their people. They want and need good people. They want and need excellent people. And yet most are funded at rates of reimbursement that allow them to pay line staff $10-$12 per hour.

The places I'm talking about are nursing homes, hospitals that support the elderly and the ill and non profit agencies that support people with intellectual, developmental and/or physical disabilities. The work is hard and the expectations (of government as well as families and agency administrators) are high. The people who can work in these settings are often stressed and over worked due to high staff vacancy rates. There are incidents of abuse and neglect that have as much to do with lack of resources as with bad people. Honestly, we should be ashamed of the cuts and reductions that continue to put extreme pressures on these systems of care and support.

So, when you hear everyone calling for and supporting an increase in the minimum wage, make sure government is held accountable for its share of the equation. Otherwise we will just continue seeing people recieve minimal supports and a revolving door of people trying to work in a critically important sector. Government will have to invest in increased reimbursement rates. They can be directly targeted at direct support professionals but these investments and increases have to be made.