I have little interest in being this guy. My thoughts are my own and not representative of the people or the organizations I have the privilege to serve.
These days I often ruminate on a line from the most recent Waxahatchee album. “I make a living crying it ain’t fair and not budging.”[1] Same. But how can the disability community and its allies stand firm in the midst of this storm? I’ve shared a few thoughts and would love to hear yours.
We need to increase our investment in mutual aid. People with disabilities have the best insight into how to effectively support their own communities. We need to increase our investment in peer support communities on a larger scale. For example, invaluable support is provided by the independent living centers that are led by people with disabilities and are present in every state. On a smaller scale, we need to nurture mustard seeds of hope like L’Arche Boston North and ensure that we are visiting the home bound in our neighborhoods. Shoveling our elderly neighbor’s walk and providing an evening of respite for the parents of a child with a disability can make a difference. All of our efforts count.
On the inclusive employment front, it has never been more important to connect young people to employment before high school exit. We made this bet at JVS over a decade ago when we launched the Transitions to Work program that provides employer driven internships and intensive placement focused career coaching for 17 - 35-year-olds with disabilities. Thanks to pilot funding that was provided by Everett Public Schools and subsequent research funding from the Deborah Munroe Memorial Research Foundation, we have launched the Work Early, Expect Success initiative that provides on-site industry exploration and connection to paid summer employment for 14 - 16-year-olds with disabilities. We are also partnering with the parents of those young adults to equip them to support their child’s career success. Working with high schoolers is vital since we know that youth with disabilities who secure employment before high school exit are 19% more likely to be working five years after graduation. In a constrained funding environment secondary education is far less likely to be threatened than adult services. Thus, equipping transition age youth for employment can be an outcome focused and economically sustainable approach for disability nonprofits to continue providing workforce development services in this challenging season.
The nonprofit sector, which I love and have dedicated most of my career to advancing, is a beloved shaggy dog. Most of us were pulled into this work by our passion and the work is often led more by heart than head. As the sutures we applied to gaping wounds in our society started to at least partially hold, some of our organizations developed the financial resources and strategic acumen required to operate with a modicum of professionalism and some continued to scramble and pray. Thanks to constant variations in funding and staffing, even the most effective nonprofits have to keep scramble and pray in the playbook.
This is a season that will require us to shear the shaggy dog and operate in the most svelte manner possible. In a season when we are demanding fiscal austerity for the poor in order to support expanded allocations to the rich, nonprofits will have to operate with more operational and fiscal discipline. There are positions currently filled by paid staff that will need to be delivered by volunteers. We’ll also have to start punching in earlier and leaving the lights on later if we want to survive. If this sounds too judgmental, please know that I am brutally critical about my own approach. For instance, for the last half decade I have been actively avoiding volunteer commitments since I have not had the time to develop the systems that are required to make the value of volunteer hours outrun the costs. I am now realizing that without no or low-cost supports there are many tasks that will simply go undone. My prayer is that we are more and more able to lead with the head and rely on the resilience of the heart.
I am loathe to type this, but in an environment where DEI has become a dirty acronym in some quarters and an idea which elicits almost comedic levels of self-protection in others, we need to think about reframing the reasons that pursuing diversity, equity, and inclusion is essential to our work. I have recently found myself going ad fontes[2] on this American experiment by emphasizing our core belief that all people[3] are created equal and have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I have also boiled down disability advocacy and services to a fight against segregation. I have repeatedly talked about the value of walking beside and behind people who are moving out of institutions, nursing homes, non-work focused day programs[4] and into the mainstream of American life.
Whether the mainstream is worth flowing into is a whole ‘nother question.
[1] “3 Sisters” on the album Tiger’s Blood.
[2] This shout out to my Protestant tendencies is a reference to the desire of generation after generation of Christian reformers to go “back to the sources” or the faith. My advice? If you’re thinking about recreating the first century church, just don’t. Unless you have a DeLorean.
[3] Obviously, I am editing a bit here.
[4] I realize that there are people in our community who need high support environments on a day-to-day basis and I support that. I even called my Congressman’s office to protect such services yesterday. I am simply saying that the more people who can be in lower support environments or working for at least part of the week, the more resources there are for those with more profound needs.