A thread in P&N got me thinking about this, but I thought it would be more approiate to post here since the thread was about social security and this really has nothing to do with that.
Three years ago, I worked on a project to develop software for the local homeless agencies around West Lafayette to better track the homeless around the city. Things were going pretty well, until the aftermath of our first meeting with the orginizations, and then I pretty much dropped out of the project because of what I learned . . .
I'll give some background, I show up at the meeting to discuss the software features, and at the meeting around representatives of the local homeless shelters. They all on the outside look like the 'kind grandmother' stereotype, and pretty much act the part. What exactly went on in the meeting is inconsequential, but I will comment that the result was they wanted more features *TRIMMED* and one agency dropped out entirely.
After the meating, I had a discussion with someone in our group, and I found out some interesting background . . .
1. One reason our project was so delayed was because the agencies were deliberatly being uncooperative. Essentially, our software would provide accurate tracking - and THEY DID NOT WANT THIS. Under the old system, some guy leaves to grab some food, and comes back to spend the night, he checks in both times and so the agency gets double the money. Our software would make this go away.
#1 is a little . . . dishonest . . . but I really don't have too many quams about it, since from my expirence with a charity at home I know how piddly the funing these orginzations get. #2 was a little different . . .
2. These sweet old ladies are VICIOUS. Behind the scenes, they are doing everything in their power to shut down the other homeless assist agencies so their agencies get more funding. How far do they go? Well, the shelter that was just opened was delayed for quite a while as the other agencies bombarded the building inspector with false complaints about violations. They routinly pay their own clients to 'spy' on the other agencies and try to catch them in violations that hit their funding. Not only do they do the double booking as in #1, but they make up homeless people to get more funding. They also work very hard to put an iron curtain between their operations and the city/state bookeepers so they can get away with god knows what else.
My basic question is this, are all charaties like this? The whole expirence left a really sour taste in my mouth, and every time I see a Red Cross commercial or such it brings up some ugly questions . . .
Three years ago, I worked on a project to develop software for the local homeless agencies around West Lafayette to better track the homeless around the city. Things were going pretty well, until the aftermath of our first meeting with the orginizations, and then I pretty much dropped out of the project because of what I learned . . .
I'll give some background, I show up at the meeting to discuss the software features, and at the meeting around representatives of the local homeless shelters. They all on the outside look like the 'kind grandmother' stereotype, and pretty much act the part. What exactly went on in the meeting is inconsequential, but I will comment that the result was they wanted more features *TRIMMED* and one agency dropped out entirely.
After the meating, I had a discussion with someone in our group, and I found out some interesting background . . .
1. One reason our project was so delayed was because the agencies were deliberatly being uncooperative. Essentially, our software would provide accurate tracking - and THEY DID NOT WANT THIS. Under the old system, some guy leaves to grab some food, and comes back to spend the night, he checks in both times and so the agency gets double the money. Our software would make this go away.
#1 is a little . . . dishonest . . . but I really don't have too many quams about it, since from my expirence with a charity at home I know how piddly the funing these orginzations get. #2 was a little different . . .
2. These sweet old ladies are VICIOUS. Behind the scenes, they are doing everything in their power to shut down the other homeless assist agencies so their agencies get more funding. How far do they go? Well, the shelter that was just opened was delayed for quite a while as the other agencies bombarded the building inspector with false complaints about violations. They routinly pay their own clients to 'spy' on the other agencies and try to catch them in violations that hit their funding. Not only do they do the double booking as in #1, but they make up homeless people to get more funding. They also work very hard to put an iron curtain between their operations and the city/state bookeepers so they can get away with god knows what else.
My basic question is this, are all charaties like this? The whole expirence left a really sour taste in my mouth, and every time I see a Red Cross commercial or such it brings up some ugly questions . . .