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Family Works to close

New funding criteria leaves social service agency (and maybe clients) out in the cold

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Family Works is about to die, and social service advocates fear that some of their services will die with them. The agency, a division of Lutheran Community Services, has provided supportive programs, counseling and care for children and families from their location at 12630 S.E. Stark St. for 13 years. This spring, under new Multnomah County procedures, they applied for 10 contracts to provide services - and secured just one. As a result, executive director Chadim Chiusti says, they will be closing their doors at the end of February.

That is a loss for the agency and its 35 employees. The real loss, Chiusti says, is what will happen to the services, and whether some people will “slip through the cracks.”

A new strategy
This year the county has elected to provide services largely through public schools and ethnic organizations. The problem is that these services are only available to 46 of the 110 schools in Multnomah County. In Mid-County services are provided only at Shaver Elementary and Parkrose High School in the Parkrose School District, and Earl Boyles Elementary and Alice Ott Middle schools in the David Douglas School District. All deserving of services, Chiusti says, but so are Prescott, Gilbert Heights and Lincoln Park elementary schools.

“Certainly, providing services through the schools is very beneficial,” Chiusti says. “The question is, what things are falling out? What will happen to a mother who is having trouble with her son who is not a student of one of these target schools? The county will tell you they’ll provide good information and referral to connect people to services through their regional centers, but what if the services don’t exist? The question is what things are falling out. “We used to get referrals all the time. There was a place to get help, and everyone knew where it was. That whole regional based system is gone, and case management is very limited.”

Linn defends the change
County Commission Chair Diane Linn, who conceived the change, says the change is intended to target scarce social service funds to where poverty is. In fact, she says, under this formula more money will come to East Portland and Mid-Multnomah County due to its recognized high level of poverty. Staffer Becca Uherbelau says those programs available through targeted schools will not be restricted to children and families enrolled there.

“We’ve gone through an extraordinary process to pick the schools, since we couldn’t fund them all,” Linn says. “Is it easy to go through this kind of change? No, it isn’t and we have disrupted some people, but we need to have a laser-like targeting of the funds we have. The framework was extremely well conceived. Will it serve everyone who needs services? No, it won’t.”

Some observers say it isn’t quite that simple. One, who asked not to be identified, says part of the selection was based on the school’s participation in the city SUN School program, which does not necessarily correlate to its level of poverty. Also, each school will get the same appropriation, regardless of circumstance.

As for Chiusti she says, “I’ve heard people say, ‘Chadim, you’re just crying sour grapes because you didn’t get the contracts. Well, yes, I’m disappointed because of what will happen to this agency, but all along I had concerns. Will we be giving a higher level of service to fewer people? I think the jury is still out.”
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