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REPORT ON MY
EXPERIENCE AT HOLY CROSS
By Lee (my
middle name), MSW
I went to work in early August
for Holy Cross Services at 430 N. Larch Street in Lansing,
Michigan, with the best of intentions.
I had been sent to Holy Cross by
an employment agency, who told me that I would be working to
find housing for homeless persons. I was interested.
I went there on a Monday and was
shown to the office of
Nancy Oliver, the director. The interview went fine,
although I remember feeling a bit uncomfortable. Then two
things happened. The director told me that I would be working
on the second shift, which was a custodial job. I was confused.
I thought this was a social work job, which would have been
consistent with my resume.
Had she even looked at my
resume? Did she know that I was a social worker? I wondered.
The rest of the day, I trained
at the front desk with
Robin, the receptionist. I learned that as part of my
job on the second shift, I would be carrying heavy loads of
sheets and towels to the dorms for the new residents. I would
be breaking up fights, and I would be giving Narcan injections
to people who were overdosing. And I would be there alone, with
no backup.
This was a little more than I
bargained for. I became more and more confused. I had been
told by the agency that had hired me that this was a social work
job, but it sure didn’t seem like one.
The second thing that happened
at my interview was also confusing. The director told me that
she had been staring at me because I was the spitting image of
her mother. She said that I looked like her mother and that my
mannerisms were like her mother. She came over to me and showed
me a picture of her mother on her cell phone.
I didn’t really see a
resemblance but I didn’t say anything. But again, I felt
uncomfortable. I realized later that by saying this, my
relationship with her changed from a professional relationship
to one that was personal and even a family relationship. It
altered the dynamic between us, and it opened the way for
transference from her to me.
I went home that night and
couldn’t sleep. I decided to go in the next day and confront
the director and ask if there was a social work job available.
But when I went in on the
Tuesday, the director was not there, so I went to
Michael, the
assistant director, who was the next in charge. I told him I
thought my skills would better be utilized during the day
shift. I told him that I had quite a bit of experience running
groups and doing case management.
He immediately agreed with me
and told me that he would discuss this with the director, and
that he would recommend that I work during the day shift. I
felt relieved.
I then began training under
Lucy, the one
case manager at Holy Cross, who began teaching me everything she
knew. But when I returned the following Monday, I learned that
Lucy had been
hospitalized over the weekend with
a serious seizure.
During my time at Holy Cross, she never returned, and I had no
one to train me.
I realized that I was going to
need to learn things on my own.
I did complete the training on
the complex computer system, called HMIS, and I started to make
phone calls to other community agencies to try to put together
some knowledge about what was available to homeless persons
through the other agencies.
At the same time, I was very
curious to start meeting the participants of Holy Cross to see
what their situations were – how they had become homeless, and
what their goals were for housing. I started to have one-on-one
meetings with them to fill out housing plans and to start
working with them on their plans for permanent housing.
Since there was a lack of
government funding, I began to look for ways for the
participants to move toward housing in other ways – by looking
for jobs, or by looking for other subsidized options like HUD
and other low-income housing.
I also looked for ways to work
with people in getting their needed identification, and by
identifying other areas of their lives where they needed help,
ie: substance abuse and counseling issues.
On my first day at Holy Cross, I
was given a tour of the building and shown the New Hope dayroom
area at Holy Cross. I was shocked to see that the participants
had no materials in the dayrooms – other than a TV mounted on
the wall. Many of them spent the day sitting with their heads
in their hands, depressed. Or they watched the one TV in the
room all day. Some lay on the floor, and some just sat at
tables with their heads in their arms on the tables. It was a
dismal scene.
I wanted to make a change to
this. I wanted the participants to be able to use their minds.
I started a campaign with my
neighbors in my senior independent living apartment complex to
collect unused art supplies, books, puzzles, games, etc. My
friends were generous, and I began finding boxes and bags of
such items outside my door in the morning. I brought them to
work, and pretty soon the dayroom had books, a really nice chess
set, a scrabble game and Monopoly game, a collection of puzzles,
activity books, crayons, markers, colored pencils and adult
coloring books, etc.
The other thing I did was to
start running groups three days of the week. On Mondays at 9am,
we had a housing group. I had planned that once or twice a
month, instead of the housing group, we would have a hygiene
group, as this was badly needed.
On Wednesdays at the same time,
we had a mental health group where we discussed feelings and
other mental health issues. On Fridays, we would have a
creativity and contest day, in which participants could earn bus
passes and tokens for things like art, poetry, and writing
contests, and competitive games like chess and dominoes.
These groups were a success.
There were approximately twelve or thirteen attendees in each
group, which was a majority of the people in the dayroom at that
time of day. I tried to make the groups both interesting and
fun.
I began to build a rapport with
both the participants and the staff, who seemed to be encouraged
by the things that were going on with the participants and the
dayroom.
From my second day at Holy
Cross, I began to realize that the staff at Holy Cross was both
hard working and dedicated. I liked everyone I was working
with, and I think they liked me. I even made friends with the
kitchen staff.
The one exception to this was
the director. I tried several times to go to her office just to
wish her a good day, but I didn’t feel comfortable with her.
She seemed to not like me – at least, that was the feeling I got
from her.
One day, I went to her office
and she told me that I seemed to be “floundering” at my job. I
was surprised. Floundering to me means drowning. I didn’t feel
I was drowning at all. I felt that with my lack of organized
training, I was managing to survive quite well.
Her lack of supportive language
made me feel just that - not supported. I began to avoid going
into her office. This director stayed in her office at all
times. I never saw her once greet any of the participants.
In spite of these misgivings
about the director, I felt happy working at Holy Cross, and felt
that I was working with a supportive team. I felt dedicated to
the participants and just wanted to help them move from
homelessness to permanent housing and a better life. I had no
agenda at Holy Cross other than to help the participants.
One thing that did happen during
my last day at Holy Cross was that when I looked at
participants’ records on HMIS, I had the feeling that something
was not right. I now suspect, and am now in the process of
confirming with executives in other homeless agencies, that it
is possible that Holy Cross is possibly collecting federal money
for services they are actually not delivering.
For example, on my last day of
employment at Holy Cross, I was doing an interview and a housing
plan with a female participant,
Danielle Allen.
One thing I did know was that each new participant at Holy Cross
is required to have an online interview called a SPDAT after
they had been housed at the shelter for fourteen days. This
paperwork would be forwarded to the office next door –
Diane Singleton –
and would be the start of the participant’s journey to getting a
Section 8 voucher and subsequent housing.
When I looked through her
record, I saw that a SPDAT had never been done on her, even
though she had been living at the shelter for five or six
months. There were no case notes for her – not even one. Her
record showed that she had no income, no SSI. She had not been
sent to DHHS to apply for SSI.
She also had no ID. No birth
certificate, Michigan ID or Social Security card. I was
stunned.
I asked her if anyone had ever
met with her to do a housing plan or talk about her housing
goals, and she said No, No one. So, she had been living at the
shelter for six months with no services, even though I had been
told that Holy Cross had been paid daily for services for her.
After she left my office, I
started looking through other records on HMIS - a lot of other
records. And what I found shocked me. The neglect that I had
found with this female participant was not an exception, it was
more often the norm.
Then I understood. I understood
why I was the only case manager there – the only one trying to
help the participants.
I understood why the food was
substandard, why there were no supplies in the dayroom, why I
had encountered resistance when I wanted to start the groups,
and why these was no washer and dryer for the 30 or so residents
on the first floor of the shelter.
I understood why few housing
services were being given to the residents at Holy Cross.
Instead, the residents were only being given bare bones care.
There was only one possible conclusion.
Where was the money going? I
wondered. And who was suffering? The participants.
This was federal crime if it was
true. Stealing from the participants, if that was what was
happening, was a federal crime, a crime against HUD and other
agencies. I was astounded. Who would steal from homeless people
– the poorest of the poor?
What happened next pulled the
rug out from under me and left me in a state of shock.
At 4:30pm on 9/15, the director
came unexpectedly into my office, which she had never done
before. I was preparing to leave for the day. She looked
around and asked if there was anyone else in the area, to which
I said no.
At first the conversation seemed
friendly and we chatted about little things. She asked how I
was doing, and I told her truthfully that I was doing fine.
Then the conversation changed.
She said that she was very
concerned about my safety. She didn’t like me working in the
offices, even though during the day there is quite a bit of
traffic in these offices. I told her that I had never felt
unsafe at any time at Holy Cross. Actually, the only times I
had felt uneasy at Holy Cross were when I was with her. I
thought that, but did not say it.
She continued to talk about my
safety. I knew there was an empty office upstairs, where most
of the staff had their offices, so I suggested she move me up
there. However, she continued to insist that I was not safe.
Then, she began to talk about
the budget. She said that I was costing her too much money.
She said that if I was hired at Holy Cross instead of working
through an agency, that I would be paid the same or less. I was
being paid $17 per hour by my agency, which I knew was below the
norm for a case manager.
But she continued. She said
that she had several options. Either she could move me to a
permanent position manning the front desk, or a permanent
position manning the New Hope dayroom, or she could have my
agency find me a different position with another company.
I was stunned. She wanted to
fire me! I started to feel cold.
I told her several times that I
preferred to stay at this job, but that no matter what the
outcome was, I would deal with it, which is the truth. I loved
the job at Holy Cross, but if I was fired by her, I knew I would
survive. But I went into a state of shock.
She kept on talking about my
safety, and she told me to think about all this and to get back
to her the following day. But her intention was clear. I would
no longer be working as a case manager. And that she wanted to
get rid of me. Then she left and I gathered my things to go
home.
I got home, and continued to try
to process what had just happened.
I called
Michael, the
assistant director and told him that I needed to work at home
the next day, and he agreed. I needed a day to think. He asked
me to document everything, which I did. I worked on the report
that night, and emailed it to him at about midnight.
Over the weekend, I thought a
lot about all this. The next day, I reported all this to the
FBI. I suspected fraud at Holy Cross. But it was not up to me
to prove this. It was much bigger than I was.
Things then went from bad to
worse for me. I tried to text and email my friends at Holy
Cross, but they did not respond. Either they had been poisoned
against me or they had been told not to communicate with me. I
can only imagine the lies they were told about me.
They might have been threatened
with termination if they did contact me. I knew that they had
young families and that job termination was not an option for
them. So, I understood. But that did not make the situation
any less painful for me.
I was very sad to lose my job at
Holy Cross, but I also know that I am extremely resilient and
that I would survive this turn of events.
I did not go back to work at
Holy Cross the following Monday. I cannot work in a toxic
situation. Been there, done that. I will fight for my job, but
I will fight from home until the dust clears.
I feel I did an amazing job at
Holy Cross, especially in light of the fact that I had very
little training. Something happened for me at Holy Cross. I
fell in love with the job and with the participants. My heart
went out to them all. I wanted to help them, and they all knew
that I cared about them.
At this time, I am working at
home and considering my options. I know that somehow, I want to
work in the homeless arena. Because I genuinely care about the
homeless people.
When I left, I had started a
campaign to get them all prepared for the winter. I was trying
to find resources to get them warm coats and boots and scarves
and hats and blankets. I just wanted them to survive the coming
winter.
The last two things I have heard
about Holy Cross are that 1. They have improved the food in the
cafeteria. When I was working at Holy Cross, I sometimes ate
lunch in the cafeteria. I went for the six weeks I was there
without ever seeing a vegetable. There was lettuce, plain
lettuce and some Italian dressing, but no vegetables.
The rumor I heard was that the
food had greatly improved, and I was glad.
And 2. I heard that the
computers at Holy Cross were all on lock down. Was that the
doing of the FBI? I had no way of knowing.
My hope is that somehow Holy
Cross will be investigated and that the situation for the
homeless people will become better. Become the way it is
supposed to be. I realized that all the time I worked there, I
was trying to make this happen.
But the problem was that the
problem was bigger than I was. I couldn’t possibly have done
what I was trying to do which was to make Holy Cross work.
For the participants.
I am still hoping for this.
Lee |
