FeedWhy doesn’t the YWCA just give away the building?
November 29, 2005 in Local Tags: glenperry, homeless, YWCA
What’s wrong with this picture?
Two charitible organizations — Peoria Opportunities Foundation and the South Side Office of Concern — are asking the city of Peoria to spend $467,758 in federal in federal grant money to help them buy and renovate the former and currently vacant YWCA building in downtown Peoria. The building would be used to house homeless people.
I have a better idea: The YWCA should just donate the old, vacant building to these two other groups instead of trying to squeeze as much money out of them (and taxpayers) as possible.
I and residents of the Olde Town North Residents Association remember very well how the YWCA claimed the high moral ground when it convinced a previous Peoria City Council to approve the GlenPerry Permanent Supportive Housing project. The YWCA positioned itself as a caring organization that only wanted to help those less fortunate while the nearby residents were portrayed an uncaring racists who wanted to keep the minorities away.
Now we have two other organizations who want to help the homeless too, and all the YWCA wants to do is wrest as much money from the City of Peoria (albeit money from a Federal source) to use a vacant building that’s sitting there doing nothing.
If the YWCA really was concerned about the homeless, it would donate that building to the Peoria Opportunities Foundation and the South Side Office of Concern.
That won’t happen of course. If there’s one thing I’ve observed over the years, there’s no business more concerned with the bottom line that the business of providing services to the poor and needy. When it comes time to beg for money, some charities claim to be about mercy, but are as cutthroat as any Fortune 500 company when it’s about opening their pocketbook.
The plan before the council looks like nothing more than a scheme to give a $467,758 gift to the WYCA.
I strongly suspect that there are better uses for that money. The Salvation Army, for example, does a smashing job providing housing for the homeless and other srevices for those who truly need it. They are a proven organization; find a way to use the money to help the SA do the job that is traditionally theirs to do.
November 29th, 2005 at 11:08 am
I understand that renovation work is already under way.
November 29th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
Wow. You make the folks who are reaching out and caring for the needy sound like a pack of money-grubbing opportunists.
In truth, most are dedicated, hard-working people who are extremely committed to their cause. Frankly, we’re fortunate to have a number of such organizations in Peoria.
If there’s one maxim that’s true for any nonprofit, it’s this: No margin = no mission.
Of course the YWCA is focused on money. They don’t have enough to do want they need to do! Like all nonprofits, they require on-going funding in order to accomplish anything.
Think of all the posts you put on The Peoria Pundit about raising money and getting donations for the site. No dough means no show. It’s the same principle for them…except they’re in the business of changing people’s lives — not writing about them.
When you say, “If they really cared about the homeless,” you sound, frankly, a little arrogant and not-a-little-bit inflamatory. In essence, you’re saying your concept is the only one with merit. It also suggests, and maybe you do mean it this way, that the hard-working men and women at the YWCA simply don’t care about the homeless…that they’re just collaborating in a complicated scheme to get more money out of the government. (Obviously, it’s just a way to support their lavish lifestyles.)
Is that what you are seriously suggesting?
And as an aside, if “$467,758 in federal grant money” is earmarked to “buy and renovate” the property, then only a portion of those dollars would go to the YWCA for the purchase price. So it’s not “a scheme to give a $467,758 gift to the WYCA.”
November 29th, 2005 at 1:43 pm
Jason: You are the second commenter to accuse me of being arrogant in the last week. Arrogant, I assume, now means having a strong opinion and expressing it. Fine. Call me arrogant. Funny. I’ve had people tell me that I’m losing my edge. Can’t please everyone, I guess.
There are charities and then there are charities. I know people who devote their lives selfishly to helping others for no renumeration at all. And then there are professional charities run by people who make a decent salarty. The YWCA basically has its hand out for a ton of taxpayer money. Therefore, their request REQUIRES scrutiny. I can only judge the YW from its recent bahavior in the GlenPerry controversy. I saw an organization that set itself up the only party in the controversy that cared for homeless people. However the people within that organization feel in their hearts, they didn’t behave in a straightforward and honest manner.
You seem to suggest that because the YW is doing charity work, that they should somehow be beyond examinition and criticism. I reject that idea completely.
And I stand by my assertion that there are other organizations that do a much, much better job with this sort of work.
November 29th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
I didn’t say you were arrogant, Bill. And I don’t think you are. I merely stated that your statement sounded arrogant. Hate the sin and all that.
And I’m not implying any organization is above scrutiny. In fact, I’m not sure how you took that premise from my post. What I am saying, though, is your implications about nonprofits that serve the needy, and the Y in particular, seemed pretty harsh within the context of your post.
You keep refering to how the Y behaved badly. Do you have earlier post you could refer to with quotes, facts, etc.? I don’t know the story and would be interested in reading it.
And incidentally, you’re dead on about the Salvation Army. Great, great group. Those people walk the walk.
November 29th, 2005 at 2:52 pm
“…because the YW is doing charity work, that they should somehow be beyond examinition and criticism.”
That’s the Mother Sheehan paradigm.
November 29th, 2005 at 2:53 pm
Peoria Dad: I don’t see it happening. For the very same reasons that the project was unlikely in the Warehouse Dist, it is improbable on Jefferson and Fayette. I cannot see the Mark Twain, Holiday Inn and other downtown non-social service businesses seeing how the kind of people that real estate investors on the open market are not lining up to rent to, are going to mix with the type of home owning business people and tourists that these other businesses want to attract downtow,
Even these people’s own families do not want them. That says a lot about these people. And demanding that businesses subsidize them and agree to having the population shoe horned into their neighborhood at their expense is adding insult to potential property value and property use injury.
November 29th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
Guys: I know someone who is already working on the interior remodeling and they’ve been told it’s for “homeless people”. It’s underway.
November 29th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
This is not Dave Dahl, this is his wife Corrina Dahl. First of all I worked for the YWCA for 5 years in the homeless shelter. For two of those years I directed the shelter. The YWCA is one of the lowest paying organizitions in terms of social service agencies so please do not try to comment on salaries when you know nothing of it. That said, no one goes into social services for the money, you go into it to help others and the YWCA is one of the best organzations in this city. At our shelter, we did not just house people. We helped them learn how to budget money, fill out job applications, get proper clothing for jobs and interviews and helped them obtain childcare as well as permanent housing. We even helped one Spanish only speaking young woman to find someone to tutor her in English for free. So, even if the Y does recieve all 400,000+ it will be put to good use, not to line anyone’s pockets.
As for the other downtown businesses, you sell them very short Mr Ingersoll. One night there was a gas problem underground near the YWCA Village. The gas company ordered us to evacuate the building. The Mark Twain was kind enough to offer rooms to families who had no where to go for the night. I think if you will ask the businesses around the YWCA you will find there was no problem with the residents of the YWCA. Homelessness in Peoria is huge. There are not enough agencies to fill the need. I’m sure most downtown businesses would rather see a place for the homeless to go, rather than be on the street.
As for what happened in olde towne. Call a spade a spade. The people of Olde Towne would rather see a building rot, attract mice and rats, be a fire and safety hazard than allow poor people to move into a nice new safe building. What joke! The people of Olde Towne might not be racists but they sure are classists IMHO.
Corrina Dahl
December 5th, 2005 at 7:09 pm
Hi,
I’m currently a student, but I am very interested in the conversion of the old YWCA building into a homeless shelter for Peoria. I do not believe that the kind of people the downtown attracts would be offput by a homeless shelter downtown- Harrison Homes and other such neighborhoods are downtown- not that many people go downtown for recreational purposes even. My friends and I frequent downtown; the kind of people who do go downtown nonbusiness related, I do not think, would mind. It is more comforting to know that the homeless have a place to stay rather than to see them sleeping in doorways and on benches- I’ve seen both often. It would reflect more positively in Peoria to have a homeless shelter rather than to continue sending homeless Peorians to other shelters like the homeless shelters of Bloomington. I’m sure you are aware that many homeless people will commit minor crimes around this time of year so that they can stay in jail instead of outside in the cold.
I would like to see if I can get some other organizations intrested in this project- I intend to start a letter writing campaign to city council and possibly trying to appeal to habitats for humanity because I figure that if they are interested in helping it would be more cost efficient which if anything appeals to city council. I just don’t understand how the city of Peoria could spend so much money in tax dollars to build a baseball stadium, when the old stadium almost never got used, but we can’t have a homeless shelter for a fraction of the cost. If you’re at all interested or could offer me any advice feel free to email me- It would be greatly appreciated.
-Melissa Soler