As our congregation gathered around the parents and baby, I noticed a friend awkwardly slipping out a side door. Our pastor performed the baptism ceremony where we promised to be part of this baby’s life. Later, I asked my friend why he’d left. “I can’t honestly promise I’m going to be there for every baby this church baptizes,” he said. I got that, but … .
Two weeks later a family in our church, a mom with a disabled child, suddenly faced eviction. Paying rent reliably for 11 years didn’t matter. The owner was remodeling. They had 60 days to get out. Mom tried, day after day, while working a 40-hour-a-week job, shuttling her disabled child to and from school, to get help, searching for an apartment, with rentals scarce. Two months later, they were homeless. Well, not totally. They moved into our house.
Burlingame Councilmember Emily Beach, regional director of JobTrain’s North San Mateo County Career Center and candidate for county supervisor, understands this story completely, because she too stepped into the breach to help people she loved avoid “statistical” homelessness. Statistical? Our county does an awesome job each year of counting homeless people, to help guide our policies and spending. But, do the families that lived in my home or found temporary shelter in Emily’s home couch surfing count? If they aren’t working with an agency focused on poverty or homelessness, probably not.
A Daily Journal reader challenged me to write about programs tackling homelessness and poverty. Were they at best Band-Aids, or worse, a complete waste of money? I prayed that, instead, I would find success stories and hope. Emily Beach gave me both.
Daniel fell on hard times. He was unemployed and living in his car while battling cancer. Although he came to JobTrain for help finding work, staff immediately connected Daniel with the YMCA Community Resource Center for housing support. Now Danny lives at San Mateo County’s new Navigation Center in Redwood City and feels incredibly grateful for the intensive supportive services he receives to help get back on his feet. With stable food, housing and health care, Daniel can focus on his employment search with JobTrain. Next week, he has a third call-back interview for a promising new job.
Sally lost her in-home caregiving job and knew she was on the verge of eviction without income. Because tenants can’t access an emergency shelter until just three days before an eviction, she lived in fear as the day grew closer. Meanwhile, JobTrain staff prepared her resume, practiced mock interviews and advocated on her behalf with a prospective employer. Sally landed a job earning $10 more per hour than before with benefits. For the first time in her life, Sally is saving money and has enrolled in JobTrain's Digital Literacy and English (ESL) classes for nonnative speakers to improve her skills.
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Sally and Danny are real, but I’ve changed their names. JobTrain, working with core agencies like the YMCA, Samaritan House and LifeMoves helped nearly 3,000 people last year, with 73% placed in careers in construction, culinary arts, health care and technology, and the vast majority still in secure good jobs a year later. A key to success is JobTrain being a hub for many agencies working to help people build strong foundations in all aspects of life. Sometimes something as simple as needing the right pair of shoes for an interview, the first payment for union dues, or a hard hat can be a stumbling block that a community of support can overcome.
San Mateo is one of the wealthiest counties in the world but many hard working people are stuck in poverty, including 27,000 children. That’s why programs like JobTrain and Jackie Speier’s new foundation addressing poverty are important. Getting a flat tire or needing a root canal shouldn’t cause someone to become homeless.
“There are so many amazing people struggling and all they want is a chance to have a decent life. When someone falls on hard times, it can be too hard to get up without a network of support.” Beach said.
We can fix that. We can help build stronger foundations with organizations like JobTrain, monthly stipends, “living wages,” community schools acting as hubs for kids and families, and more affordable housing. All levels of government, businesses and NGOs need to work more tightly and efficiently together. And of course there should be oversight to make sure money is well spent and bears good fruit.
I’ll do more columns, looking at chronic homelessness, the new “CARE” courts, and other programs. And I’ll interview other county/city candidates for more perspectives. For now, baptism ceremony or not, we ARE a community and if we pull together to support each other we can all thrive. Visit jobtrainworks.org for more info.
Craig Wiesner is the co-owner of Reach And Teach, a book, toy and cultural gift shop on San Carlos Avenue in San Carlos.
Appreciate your coverage of these important individual stories; however, regular average working renters cannot stay on the Peninsula and it is in large part due to the inaction of city councilmembers like Emily Beach. Renters in Burlingame pled for years for even the merest of things ... collection of data on rents and incomes. Burlingame refused to gather this basic information essential to seeing the whole picture, for fear of angering landlords. That collusion with the real estate and landlord lobbies remains to this day and has done tremendous damage to vast numbers of real people. Burlingame, and Emily Beach, never lifted a finger to protect renters. The "affordable" housing being included in very few units in new construction is set at the highest levels of percentage of Area Median Income ... 80 to 120 percent. The biggest need remains in the low and severely-low levels. The one building set to meet some of those levels was approved in 2015 and is still not completed. It's never been a priority of the City Council.
Thanks for your column, Mr. Wiesner. I have no doubt there are some success stories coming out of various efforts. The bigger question is how much taxpayer money is being used to accomplish these successes vs. failures. What is the average cost per “success” story? If this program is successful, why are are others not following the same protocols for success? It’s easier to write about successes if it fits a narrative, but there is another side. Looking forward to future columns.
Thank you for taking in someone in trouble and highlighting these individual stories. However, the average working or senior renter has not seen one bit of help from the City Council of Burlingame, including Emily Beach. For years, renters pled for the merest of help ... data on rents, essential to understanding the scope of the problem, and were refused, for fear of the real estate and landlord lobbies. Vast numbers of people have been forced from their homes and from the State because of the inaction of Councilmembers colluding with the lobbies. No renter protections were ever initiated by Councilmember Beach nor her cohorts. The few units of "affordable" housing included in new construction are at the higher income levels of Area Median Income ... 80 to 120 percent. A single person making 100K a year is categorized as low income in the area and doesn't even qualify. The City approved a project that will provide some of the low-income units in 2015. It is still not completed and was hardly ever a priority of the Council. The problem of egregious rents won't be solved by non-profits nor by leaders like Emily Beach.
Thanks Craig, for the commentary about Jobtrain. As one who has worked part time at Jobtrain for the past five years, I can attest to the "magic" that happens when a client enters our doors. Jobtrain assists its clients by providing all services and training at no cost to the student. The approximate cost of $8K per student is met by generous business partners and private donors. The formula of "meeting people where they are and helping them to where they want to be" has been working for 57 years exactly to the day this week.
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(4) comments
Appreciate your coverage of these important individual stories; however, regular average working renters cannot stay on the Peninsula and it is in large part due to the inaction of city councilmembers like Emily Beach. Renters in Burlingame pled for years for even the merest of things ... collection of data on rents and incomes. Burlingame refused to gather this basic information essential to seeing the whole picture, for fear of angering landlords. That collusion with the real estate and landlord lobbies remains to this day and has done tremendous damage to vast numbers of real people. Burlingame, and Emily Beach, never lifted a finger to protect renters. The "affordable" housing being included in very few units in new construction is set at the highest levels of percentage of Area Median Income ... 80 to 120 percent. The biggest need remains in the low and severely-low levels. The one building set to meet some of those levels was approved in 2015 and is still not completed. It's never been a priority of the City Council.
Thanks for your column, Mr. Wiesner. I have no doubt there are some success stories coming out of various efforts. The bigger question is how much taxpayer money is being used to accomplish these successes vs. failures. What is the average cost per “success” story? If this program is successful, why are are others not following the same protocols for success? It’s easier to write about successes if it fits a narrative, but there is another side. Looking forward to future columns.
Thank you for taking in someone in trouble and highlighting these individual stories. However, the average working or senior renter has not seen one bit of help from the City Council of Burlingame, including Emily Beach. For years, renters pled for the merest of help ... data on rents, essential to understanding the scope of the problem, and were refused, for fear of the real estate and landlord lobbies. Vast numbers of people have been forced from their homes and from the State because of the inaction of Councilmembers colluding with the lobbies. No renter protections were ever initiated by Councilmember Beach nor her cohorts. The few units of "affordable" housing included in new construction are at the higher income levels of Area Median Income ... 80 to 120 percent. A single person making 100K a year is categorized as low income in the area and doesn't even qualify. The City approved a project that will provide some of the low-income units in 2015. It is still not completed and was hardly ever a priority of the Council. The problem of egregious rents won't be solved by non-profits nor by leaders like Emily Beach.
Thanks Craig, for the commentary about Jobtrain. As one who has worked part time at Jobtrain for the past five years, I can attest to the "magic" that happens when a client enters our doors. Jobtrain assists its clients by providing all services and training at no cost to the student. The approximate cost of $8K per student is met by generous business partners and private donors. The formula of "meeting people where they are and helping them to where they want to be" has been working for 57 years exactly to the day this week.
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