La vie en teal

Well, I suppose I've officially entered the rat race, since today was the holiday office party. Got a very me gift at the gift exchange. I'm glad my pressie was well-received by Mary, one of our very cool volunteers (well, one might say they are all cool). Our advocacy director, Jenn, is leaving in the middle of the month. She will be greatly missed because she's really taken all of us under her wing and has made the effort to get to know all of us. Jenn did "Hair" in my first year of The Vagina Monologues, and she knows a lot about feminism and other social issues. She also taught us all a lot about disability rights. She uses a wheelchair to get around, and she has often been really vocal about how inaccessible most places are and how hard it is to perform daily tasks. RCS will have a hard time replacing her, and she will be missed. We've gone through so many changes. In less than a year, we've gotten a new director, a new therapist, and the legal position has been taken on by the director of advocacy. Don't get me wrong, I like the new therapist, and I think Kerri is as well-qualified as anyone can be to lead the rape crisis center. It's just a lot of rapid change.

I got into a conversation with a prevention educator at dinner today, after the party. One thing that has both of us somewhat worried is the recession. The recession isn't "coming," it's already here. We're not stupid. We know that times are extremely tough, and it's rather worrisome. We're both seniors, and we're pretty worried about the job market when we enter the full-time workforce. The scary thing is that there are people who will be or are affected by it worse than we could imagine.

The social service industry will be profoundly affected by this. Already, a lot of charities are getting their funding slashed, and most of them are needed more than ever. The homeless shelters are already overcrowded. A Woman's Place, Haven House, Women's Residential, and Safe Place are strict about limiting the amount of time a client can stay. I haven't done hotline since October because I've been doing administrative work at RCS, but when the other advocates pulled out their paperwork to give to Jenn, I was shocked by how many forms were turned in for the month. (A form details the hotline or medical call-out. Many forms=many call outs=many reasons--and I'm sure you know what those reasons are--for the call out) Even a big center like La Casa, which is mostly dependent on private funding, had some pretty huge cutbacks as well.

And here is where the problem lies. More unemployment and bad economic conditions usually leads to more crime. We have seen this all throughout history. People become desperate and take out their emotions in the worst ways. What bothers me is that if the funding for the centers keeps getting cut (and the need for them keeps going up), there won't be any services for the clients who need them the most. My two centers were really threatened by the governor's proposed budget cuts, and when he took those cuts off the table, we were all really relieved. We can't afford to lose the social services now. With worse conditions, we need our social services more than ever. I just hope the state government (and President Obama's administration too) thinks so and is willing to keep funding them.