Client Satisfaction Stakeholder Survey Response (Final Draft)

 

National Hispanic Heritage Month -- Model Hispanic not exactly

 

This is provided here for the open record in case of any intentions of malfeasance by certain staff and residents here such as in their "internal network"

Question and Answer (subject to correction)

1. Length of Stay 5 years

2. I am satisfied with my case management services. 

Strongly Disagree / Do not receive. Here are some concerns that I am fearful of relaying directly to the caseworker as she can be very defensive and even lose her temper. 

a) The new case manager is providing us forms to fill out leaving it in our mailbox. Often the first line she fills out our name in her own handwriting. At the bottom, she already signs her title and signature before we have even filled out the form. Her handwriting is very officious but if its in our mailbox can't she just attach a neatly typed note of request? No need to write our name on the form for us in her own handwriting as if we were in pre-school rather than adults, and I rather not have her signature either.

b) Recently she changed the financial reporting form to customize it and even personalize it, writing on the form our name and signing her signature and placing it in the mailbox expecting us to fill it out. In the past I had submitted this because there was no line for social worker  "signature of approval." It's a breach of confidentiality to require us to disclose how we spend our monthly income in detail. It's assigning her a "fiduciary-type guardianship" if we hand her our financial disclosure to "authorize." 

The presumption is it is as if she is seeking to gain or insinuate she has "legal guardianship" over us. This is against the law and I will not do this. Not even the government offices require us to do this or try to force us to do this, so it is extremely offensive and manipulative.

c) In fact, this caseworker has no license as a social worker (LSW) or social worker specialist; even then we have the option to seek casework outside the house. In the past the contention is that we must use the caseworker in the house. There are no qualified LSWs among the house staff and this is evident in how they often try to overstep their boundaries or encourage each other to trivialize us; in how they joke and gossip about us as soon as we step out of the office; in how they practice favoritism. 

d) This favoritism can be natural in that the staff and residents are here on a long-term basis; however there are rumors that the caseworker is having special relationships with some of the women here. Given that some residents are already from troubled backgrounds and cannot seem to break the cycle in trafficking, this is quite harmful to be involved or facilitating special relationships. Furthermore, there is evidence in the past that this led to "internal networks" with residents spying, texting, or recording the activities or whereabouts of other residents, in effect monitoring for staff or unknown outsiders.

e) The caseworker has from the very start tried to "improve the social atmosphere" of the house by creating "month of" decorations, flyers, activity sheets, etc as if it were a classroom. While she has toned it down, the majority of the "model" of the month is generally of a particular political cast. This has the tendency to foster political prejudices which abrogate the D.C. Human Rights Law. She acts more like a "Democratic Political Operative" pressuring us to think certain ways than anything else. 

f) The case worker if she is agitated by any response we provide to an email will march up the stairs, knock on door, and try to provoke an argument, escalating it however. So this is why we do not respond to her email as she is too excitable and has such little consideration for people's space and feelings.

Otherwise the caseworker is dependent upon her mood, and she likes to bait non-blacks and do more talking than listening, can be quite opinionated and is empowered to behave impulsively towards us, such as provoking an argument, knocking on our door, and trying to start an argument.

3. I understand what is expected of me in this program. 

Agree.

4. I  understand what is expected of me according to my lease or rental agreement. 

Neutral / Agree

a) They recently modified the agreement, and we have various agreements in the house such as program guidelines, handbook, old lease agreement, new lease agreement, and sometimes or rather often, forms are given to us that are dated from one year or another from some years ago. But anyway the program rules are generally pretty clear, even if the rules exist only on paper. Ms. Steph is very willing to provide us a new copy of the Rules anytime we need a new photocopy. She will also help explain stuff to us if we don't understand what is written or enlarge something that is hard to see.

5. I know how to file a complaint about the program if I have one. 

Agree.

6. I understand the process for requesting reasonable accommodation within the program. 

Strongly Disagree. 

a) Because of the bureaucratic or secondary agenda of some of the staff, I am not sure they really try very hard to keep themselves informed and abreast of all the types of disabilities that people face. In fact for instance, October is Disability Awareness Month, and also there is Mental Health Month, and so on, but these are not noticed by the caseworker. She is very aware of risk categories such as historically disadvantaged person of color (African-American), but not necessarily appreciative of different cultural backgrounds except from a superficial consumerist sense. She does not seem to have much awareness of the intersectionality of, or complexity of, or compounding effects of, which may be just as well since it may just be interpreted from an exploitative overlay of cornering clients into a sense of dependency and reliance, rather than a genuine sense of empowerment and faith-sharing.

b) The caseworker (who is not licensed) is using ways and means to exert legal power over us, trying to insinuate that she is our legal guardian, which can give them (the staff or Catholic Charities) even more clandestine means to control our lives and finances without our consent. This is illegal! We have many different categories of disabled people here, but many of us are fully independent and functional. That  the caseworker is trying her best to blurr abrograte our independence and financial independence using a "trail of paperwork" is illegal and evokes the strongest sense of distrust.

7. I know how to request language translation and interpretation services within the program if or when needed. 

Strongly agree.

a) I tested this out with the dc.gov translation services once, and it worked fine. They now have at least one sign in Spanish on each of the fire exist doors. In fact, each door has about (4) signs on them in different colors in case we are confused about how to exist the house.

8.  I am provided with resources and referrals that best meet my needs and help me achieve my goals. 

Agree. 

a) Over the year, I have gotten to know the caseworker a little bit better, and she does seem to try to keep informed on local resources and provide copies of that on the table. She is even allowing residents to also share their resource flyer if it is of general interest. Also they are trying to arrange guest consultants to the house who are offering some inspiring life skills, such as in art-work.

9. I am satisfied with the condition and cleanliness of the site I am staying and receiving services at.

 Disagree.

a) The administrative supervisor for this area did a super job providing a full Air Conditioner repair for the second floor. Now there is an electrical powered siphon pump sucking the water out of the leaky drip pan; not sure why it had to require electricity, but apparently it is connected with a moisture gauge.

b) As far as cleanliness goes, it is a pretty dicey issue, as I have personally had to clean up all kinds of messes whether in the bathroom, kitchen, dining room, or TV room in the basement. I just do this because otherwise it will take a much longer time before anyone does it. Especially if it's a critical issue, such as someone using the garbage can for a toilet, such as doing a number two in the laundry room. Even with the professional cleaners coming here twice a week, there are people who are purposely slovenly.

People should not take advantage of other people and assume that just because someone is assigned to a chore, that they can just presume that they can leave a mess and the chore person cleans up after them. 

10. I am satisfied with the meals provided at the site I am staying and receiving services at. 

None provided.

11. I feel safe at the site I am staying and receiving services at. 

Disagree. 

a) (repeat from above) There are internal trust issues because of what we mentioned before, whether or not the staff are involved, that some women have issues with medications or self-medicating. Yet the presumption is often that "we are all just clients." This allows conflicts to build until there are loud arguments and physical fights. Often this happens on the weekends or during times when staff are not here, and even at night as some people here are regular night-owls. 

b) "Hello" option. Some of the people treat this greeting as if it were a spell of recognition and acknowledgment for a soon to be conducted transaction. Since I am not into that kind of transactional analysis, all I can say is I should be free to practice the right to not say "Hello." There are several gals here who understand what I am talking about. Once you say "Hello" to the transactional type, it feels just like a prelude to business as if the same "Hello" is being used on the outside soliciting, so there is a reason why I might not want to respond or may respond by making the sign of the cross.

c) There are people who don't bother locking the door behind them at all. So other people keep having to lock the door for them especially weekends and at night. It's usually the same type of people who are busy with stuff at night.

 d) Residents on medications or self-medicating should receive counseling options. When arguments fester, the staff may not be able to prevent themselves from interfering. This apparently happened with the caseworker, which can present as unseemly. However the program assistant is pretty fair, even though she has at times been very unfriendly. She does keep a clear wall of separation between herself and the various residents here, which actually is admirable. This is why staff should not become involved with the clients personally or fostering a special relationship.

e) One of my "extra chores" which I undertake while working in the therapeutic gardening is tidying up the premises and picking up garbage. It is very sad that some people are sitting on the steps outside at night and leaving all kinds of cigarrette butts in front of the hall, and in the gardening landscape, and even dumping the ashcan contents on the therapeutic herbs occasionally. However I understand that gardening in a transitional environment will have its risks, and I have tried to interest some of the gals here in gardening with limited success. Anyway my consistent extra work outside does sort of trigger their willingness to not litter so much; even if some of the staff sort of laugh off my efforts.

12. My case manager and other program staff treat me with respect. 

Disagree 

a) The program staff, yes, I would say it is generally with civility, but not the case worker. Very few clients like to be on the first floor during the day, as they can use that as an opportunity to "bait the client" or be provocative if they are in a bored or bad mood. Since the times are very hard, some people are not willing to subject themselves to additional stress or unnecessary intrusive conversation. The Caseworker still has a tendency to treat us as if we are her "guinea pigs" since she apparently has great thick folders about each of us, yet must draw all her conclusions about us based on her bureaucratic sleuthing about our health, income, support network, resources, stamina, acuity, and all that. They are very nosy generally speaking and the fact that they may be sharing the information and speculating about our lives and relaying that information with these dark sociopathic types makes it uncomfortable to want to communicate too much. She does not have alot of what one would consider much religious perspective in life but that is just my opinion.

 13. I feel comfortable voicing my needs and concerns to my case manager or other program staff. 

Disagree / Strongly Disagree

a) I do not feel comfortable with the case manager or staff generally speaking, however, there are adminstrative higher-ups who are very responsive and have even exhibited empathy, which given the socioeconomic dynamics, really gives us a lot of hope for Catholic Charities. In fact, I do try to pray for all the staff, and form helpful relationships that minimize or alter my perceptions and concerns. For instance, I discovered from the smell exactly who was using the garbage can for a toilet in the basement, and I carefully confronted her while also being very engaging and accepting. I even shared with her a few tips on healthy eating. The staff would have a hard time addressing that anyway.

14. My case manager is easy to reach and responds to my needs in a timely manner.

Neutral. 

a) My outside case manager is pretty easy to reach and has always been very kind. Here, the case manager is easy to reach as long as she is in her office on the weekdays. She is generally pretty friendly seeming, and I have even stopped by and chatted with her a few times without an appointment. 

15. Meetings with my case manager are informative and productive.

Disagree. The case manager likes to gossip and make a big deal about small stuff however she can; this is why we do not trust her and do our best to stay away from her. And she then even tries to come and knock on our door to start some kind of something, anything, to get us excited, because it augments her sense of power and authority. Insofar as that is her only goal, power over us, it is downright wicked. However she is so inconsiderate she thinks nothing about harassing us as part of her job. 

16. My case manager assists me if I have maintenance concerns in my unit.

Disagree. 

a) This is not general purview of the case manager. However the other staff are really doing super when it comes to maintenance requests and trying to match with the right kind of repair people. Ms. Stephanie has really been on the ball, and so has Ms. Jeannette, and I really appreciate that.

Spiritual Repentance

 

God's majesty is manifold

 

One wonders why the seagulls get along better than humans do. I was watching them dance and swoop gracefully above the Pacific Ocean off San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, flying in formation above the waves. Even when they are parked along the seashore in the thousands, they do not fight, but are resting and relaxing.

Here in the hostile airport at Baltimore, we have to contend with feral work men staring at females with rape in their minds. They simply cannot think of women as anything but an object for their phallus. What's wrong with these beasts? Are they less than animals? And they are in charge of our personal belongings when we can't even trust them for safety?

We have so many of them wandering around on the loose here in public now in DC, and they do not even bother to carry themselves with any kind of decorum. They yell, scream, wave their arms, even foaming at the mouth, as if they were rabid animals lost in the wilds, rather than at the nation's capital.  

They are angry, and if they cannot spread about their filth, lust, and craziness, then they want to spread their distemper and hate and blame. The sad thing is that it works like a contagion. People see them and they pick up on the vibe and it triggers a deep programming. The reinforcement is as easy as plugging into the closed loop of ghetto-echo-chamber...

Like sparks on the highwire, the hate spreads, even if it might be glossed over by fake "joy." They schmooze and gaslight and pretend they are wanting to heal-the-divide but it is in the method of "good-time-charlie." They are even pretending that they care about helping people kick the drugs habit, when it is only done for hoovering in the voters.  

As soon as the breadcrumbing from on-high ends, everything will be back to normal, and the resentment and victimhood and guilt-tripping will return, possibly with greater force. In the name of justice, stores are robbed of merchandise, people are randomly mugged and attacked, lives are lost.

Today I saw an aspiring American University student stealing something at Target right in front of me. He just tucked a small yogurt container into his shorts pocket as if it were completely normal. What could I do? The Target store worker was working nearby, but he and the other student had already walked away.

Yes, even in Target items such as socks, underwear, boxers, and hosiery are all locked up. They are too popular for the shoplifters who steal them to resell them on the sidewalk. At least they still allow backpacks, but they have several cops inside the store, that did not deter the shoplifting student at all.

Another semester of exciting K-12 student education begins. For the young ones, there are those who specialize in grooming the special education students guiding them down deviant pathways, while pretending they support law-and-order. Others there are twisted parochial teachers and counselors who are more interested in sexualizing their students than in teaching morality and life-planning. Still others, such as professors, delight in confusing their students with higher-complex games of learned-helplessness and ethical-nihilism.

My vacation this year was cut short due to a cousin who used to be a close family friend. These cousins were my aunt's daughters, and they were so close we saw one another at least six times a year. They came to our house, and we went to theirs in San Francisco. We grew up going to the museums of Golden Gate Park, being treated with delights from Chinatown, and visiting churches in San Francisco.

That was the rub with most of my relatives in San Francisco though: they did not believe in Christianity or Buddhism. They were beautiful mercantile consumerists, and as a child, I often idolized their beauty and artfulness in clothing, make-up, pop-music tastes. Now I realize that they would have done a lot better in the long run if they had learned about God and Jesus. Because as they grew into adults with young families, they were consumed with chasing after the American dream.

Their mockery about us going to church has hardened into a schlerotic intolerance for anything religious or smacking of religiousity. They may be reborn as dung-beetles. Maybe then they will recall that not only did we attend all their weddings, but we helped to take care of grandmother during her last years living in San Francisco, Chinatown.

We discovered that their "honor and respect" for my parents was really just a sham. They were merely being obedient children, following the directions of my aunt. Even though we had gone to Bi-San many times together, countless times during childhood for my grandparents, today they have absolutely no time to do this with us.

When my dad died last year, my mom didn't want me to contact them because she said they would not care. I found it hard to believe---after all, didn't they visit me in the hospital after my surgeries? Well, that was just an act too, because my beloved Aunt had asked them to do that. They stopped communicating with my dad and mom after my aunt passed away.

After my Aunt Lucille died, my cousins set themselves free of all remaining obligations to us, meaning the most expeditious means to cut off any form of relationship. So when I call my cousin, she discusses with me a meeting possibility but there are crucial bad vibes being sent. She doesn't ask about my health, about how I am doing, about my mom, siblings, or even express condolences for my late father (her beloved Uncle). Then she cuts the call off without leaving her phone number, without even telling me the cemetary address. She tries to call again, and leaves another nasty message on the machine, saying she is "too busy to do all that going here and there and everywhere" with me.

What? I had not seen her for many years, and I never call or bother them. I don't even have her email. I said just go to the cemetary or maybe coffee. But I got the message. She was tired of being mistaken for such a "good girl." Per the theory of Kohlberg, I doubt that her moral reasoning goes beyond "Good Girl" appearances and Law-and-Order.

There are a lot of opportunities today in America for short-circuited moral and ethical and spiritual development. Some people just lack the genetic capability; for others, it is a culture that supports an existential amoralism. Many people believe that the only control in their lives is The Law, so if they can shirk The Law, they can become fully self-realized. It it were a matter of situationalism for the good, that would be fine; however, often it is for the sake of abetting crime and spreading anarchy.

Many things attend anarchy in human society that do not even exist in the animal world. We can create hell on Earth with a push of a few buttons today. We can rape and pillage villages and towns and commit more gruesome crimes than even droves of hyenas. There are feral men and women who believe that hell on Earth is worth the bonfire of the moment.

That's why I was reading Job throughout the days of my trial with this troublesome cousin last week. I came to a realization: Job wasn't tested by losing materially or physically only. Satan wanted to test his spiritual resolution. Satan was after Job's soul. Job was falling into cynicism, and he was being rebuked by even a much younger man, Elihu.

It's so much like today that an older person, formerly a model of success, is now scorned and scoffed at by a "proper young aspirant." Once the older person is down on their luck, their friends turn on them, even when they are all presumably "religious." But at the end, it was still just a conversation between God and Job. Job still had what mattered which was the spiritual resources to overcome his losses. God came to Job despite his sorrow and losses.

Maybe Job never recouped his material losses; maybe he never really underwent the trials described except figuratively. He was deprived of all that meant the most to him---whether it was loved ones, career, position in society, certifications, social recognition, honor, respect. He had to have the strength to recoup his dignity, civility, and respect despite greatly diminished circumstances.

This is the type of survivalism that America does not prepare anyone for today. The consequences of lack of coping skills is seen in so many homeless people living on the streets today. It's also seen in the callous desensitized people passing by. They rejoice that their homes are now valued at $2 million dollars in San Francisco, yet cannot connect the dots on the hidden costs paid by people priced out of their apartments.

Our social services operates like a band-aid system whereby the cauterized wound is never addressed or treated. We have to keep the myth of capitalism alive, and spirituality and authenticity in caring for the individual is an extreme rarity. I see this in how the feral people treat older people who are not of their same background. They are regarded quite openly with total and complete disregard even if they have been next door neighbors inside this house. The Catholic Charities night-time program assistant did not even come out to greet the 911-emergency workers and just sat in her office totally oblivious even after the ambulance came and wheeled my frail older friend out in the wheelchair.

This program assistant has done this callous ignoring type thing for almost ten years, so of course, this is supposed to be par normal behavior for her. "If it's not in my work manual, it does not pertain to my duties here." If she works in special education during the day time, and supposedly is more successful than me (because I have never worked long-term in this area), it would not surprise me whatsoever that besides the appearance of law-and-order, there is a covert abetting of sexual grooming taking place in her classrooms.

This is why I had to think so hard this week about why I also practice Buddhism. Because there are also the worst kinds of hypocrites who suddenly appear out of no where. On the plane from Ft Worth to Charlottesville, I sat by two gentlemen of a very odd cast. They claimed to have never met, but something tells me otherwise. Anyway one seemed to be a media guy who was following a Christian music group. Another was a "consultant" who was coordinating an "umbrella group for tracking national religious groups." It was a major operation, he claimed, with a lot of geointelligence involved, and he was busy flipping through his notes and powerpoint for the young man to see. Was this a type of intelligence sharing? Certainly the two could not stop talking about their aspirations which seemed to put Christianity itself quite in the hind seat...

We have had these attempts to control the world as it is according to Garp. Everything becomes not nearly as durable as one once thought. At one time, we had IRS tax season jobs and tax centers all over the country. The center in Fresno lasted between roughly 1975 to 2015, just a short 40 years. The fracking boom is projected to end by about 2040. The only sane leadership in my humble opinion has recently come from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Life is too short to waste on being bitter. Satan loves fear, bitterness, anger, rage, confusion, and chaos. He sows greed, hate, pride, ignorance, and lack of faith. Under those conditions how can there be self-peace, let alone the ability to spread peace and wisdom around the world?

AC Challenges - UPDATE

 

Why do you do all that volunteer work?

       There are people here who seriously believe I am nuts because I do so much "volunteer work." 

       At this point, it's tempting to do a re-post of my letters to the Staff on Saturday and Sunday during this heatwave in Washington, DC that has once again caused the air-conditioning (A/C) unit to start overflowing with water from the air-distribution box. 

       As I detailed last summer, it is basically a problem with the type of unit they installed, that at its base there is no drip pan, and they never bother to try to do a DIY type of fix that might connect to the drip-condensate line that also drains from the A/C on the third floor just above. 

The maintenance person drains the distribution box and replaces the wet moldy filter

 

   As a result, every summer, the air filter shown above is replaced a few times because it becomes moist, wet, and moldy from the drip condensate leaking into the air-distribution box. And that's all they do because "anything else is outside the contract."

    I suppose eventually they may write in that residents should just sit on their hands and do nothing, but then, they know very well that on the weekends, when the Catholic Charities Facilities / Staff does not answer the phone, respond to calls, the water may overflow and cause the dining room ceiling to collapse. The warped bending wood also leaks and flows water onto the dining room floor. 

      So in one of my innumerable "extra chores" in the house, I have taken to dry-vaccuuming the air-distribution box myself, because I don't like the dining room dangerously wet, I don't like the electrical wires to get wet, I don't like the overflow in the distribution box to make the second floor wet either. 

Thanks to my efforts, the leaks through the ceiling have been minimal so far

 

 

    Thanks to my efforts, the leaks through the dining room ceiling from the A/C unit and conduits just above have been minimal so far this summer. So why am I writing about this? Because it is sad that I undertake to do this kind of unpaid work, notify the staff, and hear nothing back. It is worse when N-a reports to work on Sunday evening as Program Assistant and sometimes is impossible to approach. 

     I also asked in email that N-a furnish the house with more kitchen bags because we are out, and the garbage was piling up in the kitchen, because that person does her chore on-and-off. I had done it for her a few times, and now she takes it for granted that I will "pick up where she left off." That's why I shouldn't do chores for people because they just decide to leave the rest for me to do.

    Other obnoxious chore that I do include emptying the cigarette butt cans outside on the patio . There are about four of them, and due to a few chain smokers here, they fill up and then the rain also fills them with grey water. The designated chore person never does her chore. If I do it and then tell her, she will dismiss me, and if I complain about her not doing her chore, she seethes and rages against me.

    Then also in the email to staff, I told them that someone, E-a, leaves the windows wide open in the basement, in the stairwell, in the bathrooms. She has a mania for her style of cleanliness, so it doesn't register to her that this warm air causes an updraft and makes the A/C work harder, and also moistens the air and increases the condensate, eg. collection of water visible outside the air conduits.

    This is the same character who wears sunglasses and dark raincoat 24/7 even inside the house and sprays her door tread with Shower Tile Cleaner and outside her door to the point that the wood is stripped of varnish and feels as rough as sandpaper. Again, I told the staff about this and they do nothing. 

    Why do they do nothing? Well, like we mentioned before, everything they do comes from the manuals, the books, the bureaucracy which trains them to follow all kinds of rules that may or may not even be very helpful, or even optimally relevant.

    (It is in the vile nature of these misfortunate employed program assistant, director of administrative management, senior director here to do their best to BAIT this resident. So rather than focus on the problem, they may actually DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. The whole rationale behind this evil attitude is that by deliberately ignoring, they hope I will become frustrated, at which point the evil beings will try to escalate and pin this resident down for a WRITE UP. In narcissism theory this is about "catching a big fish" in their predatory mindset because they know I have several college degrees.The staff are great at BAITING like this. So they would rather let the garbage pile up, the leak go on, the ceiling panels warp and paint peeling, and the house in a state of disrepair, if it means they can WRITE ME UP. Imagine if there is a state of emergency, a national emergency. Such vile beings will be the type who are more concerned about the little details about boarding a life boat than about helping people abandon a sinking ship. It is the epitome of small-mindedness but it definitely augments their sense of self-importance because suddenly they have more paper to process, create meeting time about, and follow-up on "the case." So right now, I definitely sense they are full throttle BAITING ME just because it's possible they can try to get me upset about the leaky A/C. Like I said, they are infinitely more excited about the possibility of frustrating residents than doing their job properly! And this is further reinforced through training that is opaque, secretive, and fills them with conceit.)

      Take the "Emergency Preparedness Plan" posted with about twenty other notices posted at the Client Information Board.The numbers do not work on the weekends for the presumed contacts. The contact people have changed from a few years ago. These contact numbers are what one would get from the DC government pages, such as how to contact the police, poison control, DC Water, emergency service numbers, etc. There is a lot of fluff, but the basic instructions in any emergency are either 1) shelter-in-place or 2) call 9-1-1 or 3) call staff.

    Incidentally, there are so many signs posted about the house now that you can't look any direction hardly and not see a sign. Just to exit there are at least (4) signs taped on the doors. For instance each door that is used in fire drill has at least (4) signs: 1) map of the house, 2) Emergency Exit sign in white, 3) Emergency exit spanish sign, 4) Red/White sign saying "Exit." (I am waiting for them to post additional signs in other languages and maybe pictures for those who are minimally literate).

    Anyway, those are probably requirements to meet the expectations of the Fire Department, because they don't want people to jump out the window in a real fire.

    But this is a microcosm, the milieu of living inside DC, where there are so many layers of bureaucracy and oversight committees, and people who still have jobs and careers to defend whether at Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, DC Government, Catholic Charities, and so on.

    However they seem to be living in Cloud 9 when it comes to pragmatism. They don't see the clients here, and my suggestions (often from experience) are overlooked and ignored. Their way of viewing me is "Well, you are just a client, so you have mental and physical disabilities, so we can't take anything you say for real." That really is their attitude, and they rather live in their safe bureaucratic bubble, even if it means sitting inside in their office and never taking exercise. 

    My suggestions have included putting up a bike rack for the 4-5 gals who are brave enough to own a bike and save on transportation costs. Patching up the water gouged pavement from the drip pipe (from the same A/C system) draining near the storage shed. It's really visible, and sometimes the drain becomes clogged and there is an unsightly puddle there. I've mentioned it several times, that it can be patched with maybe some grout, or asphalt, or extra concrete. Mostly my suggestions are round-filed---the Director has never heard of those suggestions.

    Then the gals here, I guess they wonder why someone like me does extra chores, likes to work in the garden, and whatnot. How do I bridge this gap in understanding and appreciation? I've tried complaining about it, but then it just makes people upset. 

    So here is my take on it. Like it or not, Volunteerism offers its own kind of special intangible rewards. Who asks anyone to feed the sparrows or fill the bird bath? Certainly a waste of time and money per the government. But rewarding when one realizes the birds view this person as a great benefactor, someone they welcome each morning with a cheerful song, and flit around like in a dance.

     And there is a sort of sobering awakening to the deeper meaning to the words "Catholic" and "Charity." Okay, I am not a very good Catholic, more of a Christian, and Buddhist, but I try. And I am not very charitable---not a Jeff Bezos giving huge generous grants away, but I make up for that with my labor. Tzu-Chi Foundation also mentions how much they appreciate the pitching of hands when they build a new schoolhouse in Africa, or renovate an older person's home. 

    So while one faces the scorn and derision that "You are Not Staff, You are Non-Career" one must not hang their head in agreement "Yes, I am a Big Nobody"! No, instead, you should just ignore those kind of lambasting, which actually is very prevalent in American society today. It is in fact at the root of our societal problems, that we just see and value everyone for "who they are, where they work, how much money they make." 

    Those types will not be able to handle a shovel when that day comes because "It is Outside My Grade." They are like robots---unable to be fully human anymore! So it is in our place, as a Catholic Charity Volunteer (and NO, that is not a "label" where I have gone to School, received a certificate, and am inside their System), but meaning really as a "volunteer" to educate and inspire them to deepen their understanding and appreciation of what those words might truly mean.

    Because irregardless of our "advanced education, degrees, certificates" when disaster hits, we really will all need each other. Someone can be good at fixing bikes, someone at building local networks, someone at creating sustainable food gardens, someone at opening up a trading post, someone at mending clothes, someone at creating emergency storage tanks, someone at building solar arrays.

    Unless our hearts and minds are open and flexible, we will act like lemmings rather than be at least half as resilient as the pioneers were in Early America. I really like how TruNews quotes Matthew and Isaiah when Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower for his disciples:

    "And the Prophet of Isaiah is being fulfilled in their case. It says: 'You will indeed hear but by no means get the sense of it, and you will indeed look but by no means see.' For the heart of this people has grown unreceptive, and with their ears they have heard without response, and they have shut their eyes, so that they might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of it with their hearts and turn back when I heal them.

    "However happy are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things you are observing but did not see them, and to hear the things that you are hearing but did not hear them. 

    "Now listen to the illusration of the man who sowed. Where anyone hears the word of the Kingdom but does not get the sense of it, the wicked one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart; this is the one sown alongside the road." (Matthew 13:14-19)

    So yes, I fully expect that instead of being thanked, there is sort of a rebuff and ignorance against me if I try to bring it up with staff personally. It is viewed as a threat to their manual limitations, their prescriptive boundaries and attempts to limit and categorize the clients as lesser human beings. 

    Instead, I have to just expect, like the many signs they put around the house, that they might view the email, and eventually have a maintenance person come and take a look at the A/C system. It might even take a few days, because who knows how many other Catholic Charities buildings have these problems.

    In fact, I am also heartened by the fact that I do get to go outside and plant some flowers and maintain the garden that I have developed since 2021. An update will be posted on that blog soon!

Client Satisfaction Survey aka Stakeholder Survey -- Public Copy for the Record

 

 

Entranceway Bulletin Board --Ongoing Long-term Project by Sr. Director

Dear Reviewers,
   Thank you for the complex work that you engage in for our behalf. This is my fifth year at Mount Carmel House for women, and I am happy to state that I have tried to continue to contribute to the happiness and well being of residents here. For instance, the therapeutic garden is still being maintained, and this year two shrubs are added to the garden, paid by me out of pocket, in addition to the herbs (rosemary, thyme, chives, strawberry, mint, oregano, etc). These are in pots, and anyone is welcome to take a cutting to try to grow or use.

   Enclosed is the review (stakeholder/client satisfaction survey) and some remarks. We have a new caseworker and the comments are with regard to her, who I will call P. (Paula) to keep things simple and confidential. Please understand, that outside this home, I do have a variety of friends and resources, and even other African-American social-workers who have been very nice, extremely helpful or understanding about disabled people and their needs. So I am not just "inventing stuff" here on purpose. Kim is my neighbor and I am very discreet, however, some of the stuff I draw from, well, you can't help sort of intuiting or overhearing if you are all packed together so closely...

   So I really really hope that you are considerate enough to keep this confidential and "cherrypick" what can be shared with the MCH staff, because they will try to retaliate or plot new ways to try to make my life more miserable here. I mean, I can or should forward this to the homeless care services committee but I will refrain from doing this because P. is new, and maybe the Catholic Charities counseling manual can be amended to include a few more paragraphs about "re-imagining it can also happen to you" as I was taught about in Special Education, that we all suffer or will eventually suffer from disabilities.

    Thank you very much for reading all this, and I know that you have tried to help us in the past, even if we are not always aware of exactly how.
    Sincerely,
       Christine K, #24
       Mt. Carmel House, 471 G Place NW, Washington, DC 20001

1. Length of stay in the program (since 11/2018, five years)

2. I am satisfied with my case management services.

Disagree, and I would not like to receive case management services (opt-out). The new caseworker is not a licensed social worker and her undergraduate work is in sociology, which is not really the same as social work. Her background and comportment is that of in Daycare work, so while she brings a lot of energy to the house, it is displaced because we are older women, mothers, grandmothers, adults, not in pre-school or K-6. She is even trying to convert parts of the dining room for "activity center" space. The bulletin boards which had a community postings type of orientation is being converted into teacher-style bulletin boards. This kind of authoritarianism seems manipulative. In the community meeting, she had already pre-volunteered one resident (Kim) for leading most of the activities, which seems divisive. (I had a handout which I misplaced but it showed her leading for almost all the activities: jewelry-making, scrapbook, movie night, game night, auction, field trip, birthday party, dinner-night, arts and crafts, etc.) In other ways P. seems used to coercing or forcing herself or her presence in ways that indicate that she cannot or will not address matters with flexibility or with consideration because pre-K children are rarely able to raise objections. Because she already seems willing to overstep boundaries, and is opinionated, I feel uncomfortable with counseling, which generally requires an emphasis on establishing trust, first and foremost. Not a pedagogical agenda that is imported and forcibly introduced without consideration while taking away from community dining room space or resources. Her attitude about this has been "Well, that is how it is going to be from now on, because I say so!" (As a past educator, I buy my own supplies if I want to create activities, not take away meaningful items such as magazine trays. In fact, nothing I have done around here, especially for the herb garden and gardening and planning, is reimbursed! I wouldn't even be surprised if the staff asked for reimbursement based on my efforts in the garden or from buying a new ironing board cover, for themselves.) For instance, we also have clients here with recidivism tendencies, and they appear to have slipped back into, yet these are still favored or treated as special clients even, which can create or foster serious breaches in confidentiality and endanger the safety, security, and well-being of the clients in this house.

3. I understand what is expected of me in this program.

Neutral. This is because while we all study the Program Guidelines, a lot of mixed-messages happen in the execution and delivery of services. For instance, right now the stairwell bulletin board is being "re-decorated" and like other two, it appears to require such a conscious effort, taking many hours to re-do compared to the relative number of hours in an educational facility that a real teacher devotes---often after school, done on her own time, and therefore done with economy and even haste. These new "Teacher-Style" bulletin boards are redone in a style that appears to nullify a "community" feeling; placards are being posted all in plastic sheets, and the wording large and simplified. Other items that used to be on the board are no longer there for our benefit. (Ms. Stephanie's door has all kinds of information tacked on there by now, just like the old bulletin boards).

This kind of "new programming" is obviously done after some conscious-planning that may be produced by the staff "echo-chamber effect" since all (4)-(5) staff appear to be from the same sociodemographic in gender, race, pay, cultural values, contemporary outlook, etc.  It would seem that while we have immutable values (Golden Rule), there are also corporate values (House Mission), then there are cultural values, and contemporary (in-group) values, and what these ladies do for recreation does have a tendency to transmute the performance into a parallell of promotion of false-programming. For instance, if by a secret Satanist, the efforts may be intentionally coded with occult symbols and/or messages, for instance images or memes, that promote or support "evil" behaviors.

4. I understand that is expected of me according to my lease or rental agreement.
Agree. They are prompt and swift in providing receipts.

5. I know how to file a complaint about the program if I have one.
Neutral. However as various residents note, there is double-edged sword almost in filing a request, grievance, or maintenance request. Maintenance requests are ignored or can remain unaddressed for long periods of time, even never addressed. If you keep filing the same complaint, it even gets "round filed" and I suspect Nakia does this with my past suggestion box ideas, as when I mention if the director received it, she nodded her head, no. With requests, if done in writing and marked urgent in the topic email, Ms. G. who is a Catholic Charities director, does try to address, and the other director also who addresses anti-bullying issues.

6. I understand the process for requesting reasonable accommodation within the program.
Disagree. We need to have better accommodation for the older women here who are on walkers---they should not have to file written requests if the staff are here all day long. They should be able to speak about their needs and secure some kind of response if it is reasonable within the same week. For instance, I have observed we have an elderly person here who is still on the second floor when they should be on the first floor, and she is not able to fix regular meals for herself anymore. I have requested or talked about having meal delivery here (such as DC Central Kitchen) as this is also a transitional shelter categorically.

7. I know how to request language translation and interpretation services within the program if or when needed.
Disagree. Right now, because of all the "bulletin board re-doing" the entrance hallway bulletin board is now a blank space with yellow poster paper backing and the title is "Having Positive Feelings" or something like that, with descriptors of positive feelings. Completely meaningless because all the useful community information is tacked on Ms. Ford's door, which looks like a crowded bulletin board, and there it appears to remain. So any consideration for people who need translation services...appears to be a disproportionate nonconcern.

8. I am provided with the resources and referrals that best fit my needs and help me achieve my goals.
Disagree. Any resources and referrals I have always done on my own or with outside help. This is in part because of my advanced and specialty qualifications, but also because of concerns of breaches in confidentiality. It is not encouraging to hear the staff trivialize or make denigrating remarks or even plot to paint the client as more disabled than they are. This is even worse if they secretly signal or send messages to clients on how to harass certain other clients, which we have only indirect evidence for. For instance, promoting Kim as the peer-leader here, giving her "Secretary" status for leading social-activities, is not only divisive, but also purporting to hold her up as a role model, when in fact, she may not really be if we are looking at immutable values, but maybe if we are primarily looking at it from a promotion of trendist "red light" street-culture values. We have many other hard-working women here and they are often not even around during most of the days, but they are completely ignored as role models.

Both community computers unfixed and unplugged, printer also

Another issue is that the Director and caseworker are more excited about planning social activities than getting the two broken computers and printer fixed at the "computer center" in the basement? We haven't had any working community computers for almost 2 years! I thought one of the goals in this house was encouraging us to look for work, enroll in training programs, learn new skills, etc, not do all these "social" activities. According to the program, our time is supposed to be spent in volunteering, mentoring, polishing resume writing and job search skills, interviewing skills, entrepreneurial or business skills, and develop depth and understanding in areas of health, spirituality, personal growth, etc. 

"Game","Movie","Scrapbook" nights, no distracting messages

The caseworker is pointing us to the MLK library for business and skills development. That is just very obvious and shows a very low bar of investment for us; and it also matches the afore mentioned prioritizing of favoring the "red-light" clique inside this house and elevating them to a "teacher status" around here, which is pretty darned weird since neither of them have ever taught in public high schools (like I have). In fact, I am not even certain that two of the staff are not into that themselves, the "red light" stuff. But never mind and of course, you put me in danger if you share all of this information outright. It's not like you live next to someone who is calling their special minders at all hours, or is into Haitian-style voodoo. So it's really disgusting and corrupt how deep it goes and how superficial and shallow the staff truly are. Their only saving grace is that it's getting that way all across the country now practically, so maybe it's cool in their view, how low our country is sinking, worse than a third-world country morally and ethically, while lying about maintaining standards.

9. I am satisfied with the conditions and cleanliness of the site I am staying at and receiving services at.
Neutral. I do a lot of extra chores here, which nobody even recognizes anymore. Taking out the kitchen trash, dining room table clean up, kitchen sink clean up, refrigerator clean up (a bottom bracket was broken and red meat fluid had fouled up the bottom of the refrigerator, but no one noticed or cared to clean this up; then I had to create a prop to keep that shelf level), replacing ironing board cloth, even emptying the cigarette butt containers outside! I have informed the staff about people not doing their chores, but they appear to do nothing about it. I also inform them about the side-door not being latched shut, which they also ignore. I also clean the laundry room (which Ella stopped cleaning after an altercation with Sharon), and even cleaning the walls which were stained with hair dye. However on the balance, being outside allows me to also do some gardening. When I do my own regular chore, Bathroom #3, it appears that some gals delight in dirtying it back up immediately for my benefit, as if they like to have to see me keep cleaning up after them. So this kind of behavior is inconsiderate, and the staff never do any cleaning themselves. When the new refrigerators were delivered there were stacks of cardboard boxes outside, and I ended up tearing them apart so they could fit in the recyle bins. Again, this was not noticed or thanked. I guess there are administrative rules against the staff actually doing any cleaning or maintenance, so they can sit all day long.  

10. I am satisfied with the meals provided at the site I am staying and receiving services at.
Neutral. No meals are delivered here except what residents order for themselves. The only time food is furnished is as part of an event, meeting, or donation from the church, about once or twice a year. The snacks are provided for meetings, it appears, as part of a budget, since it is highly doubtful that P. who cannot even afford to pay for her teacher materials out of pocket, but borrows stuff from the house to use, will pay for anything but the cheapest low-quality junk food on her own. Also, on a slightly different angle, nobody seems cognizant that our country is in the midst of three wars (Ukraine-Russia, Middle East, Taiwan), and preparing for war-time, so if the country were to shut-down, would they even care that we had adequate food and water for survival?? No, because all they do is follow what the program books tell them to do, so it is too "outside-the-box" for them to conceive of such a thing on their own. If they really cared, they would help us prepare for our "bugout" bags and buy some survival-food buckets and emergency water bottles to store in the basement, and tell us where we can go in emergency. Instead, they will probably say, well just follow what DC government tells you to do, and go were FEMA tells you to go...

11. I feel safe at the site I am staying and receiving services at.
Disagree. We have several serious cases of recidivism happening here, even it it appears "below the radar." This one person, Robin, appears to be on drugs or abusing them, at least once a week, usually on the weekends, and then she goes into the bathroom and sits for up to an hour vomiting. Several others are doing this---Tonya, Kim (drinking), etc. And this is aside from other stuff happening that usually happens in the red-light Chinatown district, to fulfill the expectations of local residents and tourists, that Chinatown is indeed, exciting. At least they need to try to shut the door behind them when they go out so the door is locked, however sometimes, even the front door is not even properly shut. 

12. My case manager and other program staff treat me with respect.
Neutral. At least on the surface they appear to try to treat me with respect, for instance, Stephanie and Jeannette were reasonably nice when I had to leave town for a while after my father passed away late last year. However we do have a current issue right now with the new caseworker P. who appears to be unduly concerned with "adopting the right attitude" towards us as a class, not as individual persons. We are not this label, that label, or "clients" pronounced with a distasteful sneer. This comes from the direction of the director most likely, but it can't be known for sure, as it also appears to be part of the corporate and contemporary culture. For instance, the activity baskets for April had "notable events for the days of April" and "addressing anxiety disorder" in another basket. Well, we have lots of types of disability here, so why single that one out? Also the magazines are full of self-help information and encouragement, so is this why she wanted to sort of hide those magazines away by taking away the magazine trays? Then the "thought of the month" stuff is really---just so tasteless in my opinion. We have twenty women here, and at dinner time, it gets really crowded even pre-Covid with women trying to fetch food to eat, cook, prepare, etc. So all the side tables were used even, but she has absolutely no consideration for that. Maybe she should try to stay overnight here and think about what the extra common space means. (It's not just the table she uses but also the wall above, and even the window frame, so it's almost like she is trying to move part of her office into the Dining Room to "help mind us.")

13. I feel comfortable voicing my needs and concerns to my case manager and other program staff.
Disagree. I already mentioned there appears to be an "echo chamber" effect happening where the staff are very adamant about an "us" vs "them" boundaries and especially if we are non-African-American. There is one caseworker (?) who is here during the day that I have not even been introduced to, but every time I see her, and say hello, she stares at me for 15 seconds before she says hello back, as if I were a "freak of nature." So this kind of attitude is very stigmatizing, not to mention if you catch the staff at a wrong moment. Most of the residents are rarely going downstairs during the day because in the past, they might be confronted with questions and concerns spoken in an antagonizing or challenging tone by the staff. So intimidation is also a part of their gaming and baiting the residents whenever or if they believe they can get away with it. For instance, just because I had "anxiety disorder nos"; they purposely adopt the most intimidating mannerisms, or even set up my meeting times, so that other residents are in the vicinity serving as distractants or "minding me" indirectly. This is how they use our information against us, because rather than being truly accommodating, they are infact, exploiting that as a weakness to make the client feel uncomfortable or to bait the client intentionally (for a possible write-up, which they try to use to conduct "interrogation-style" meetings).

14. My case manager is easy to reach and responds to my needs in a timely manner.
Disagree. In the past, the staff were easy to reach during off-hours; you could text them, call them. However after Ms. Hinnant came on board as director that changed, and now they are only available 9-5 weekdays. If you need anything on the weekends you must wait for Nakia to come in. Sometimes they do respond to texts, but mostly they do not, and they can even use your text message to respond by flaming you about another matter. I do not expect to be able to reach P. easily, and she is already being encouraged to be minimally responsive to our needs, and since she is underqualified or has not a strong social-worker counseling background (neither does Ms. Hinnant), she is not able to stand on her own feet in a professional manner, such as Mr. Brown pretty much tried to.

15. Meetings with my case manager are informative and productive.
Disagree. We are able to talk about what is needed for filling out the form, which does not take long. They try to pump you for information which they then use to conduct surveillance and monitoring, and that may be illegal if it concerns my relatives and friends or my social safety net. Also they share information back with clients on the sly, which is also illegal and outright dangerous for our safety and well-being. These do not feel like natural communication meetings, more like orchestrated "interrogation sessions." I have no criminal record and am a respectable citizen, albeit lower-income, for instance, I have a masters degree and professional engineering license as well as bachelors and associate degree certificates. I have working experiences which required FBI clearances, and I was always able to pass those with no problem. However they treat everyone here as if we all came from D.C. Jail system! So this is really quite odious that they have such low-expectations for us, that they practice "disempowerment" that is contrary to the program goals for fostering self-esteem and autonomy. Because P. comes from a pre-K daycare background, she is being trained to "infantalize" this program for working women even more, and create an authoritarian atmosphere, while faking a community environment that is filled with recreational activities worthy of AARP if we had the time and money for that. The point is, that they are oblivious of this country being in war, being in war-time, and that if the country were to shut-down, would they even care that we had adequate food and water for survival? No, because all they do is follow what the program books tell them to do, so it is too "outside-the-box" for them to develop such initiatives. If they really cared, they would help us prepare for our "bugout" bags and buy some survival-food buckets and emergency water bottles to store in the basement. They don't even hardly bother to connect us with senior community centers or area-wide community programs, much less order meaningful things which would improve our connection to the world, such as a Time magazine news subscription.

16. My case manager assists me if I have maintenance concerns in my unit.
Agree. However slow it is, it is eventually addressed. Sometimes it takes up to six months, but if it is with regard to bathroom or kitchen, usually in a week or so.

ADDENDUM: 

Here are some additional photos of the Political-Social-Cultural Agenda that is happening, that has political distractions to support: War, Monopoly, Fraud, Global Dominion, and authoritarianism. We just might get our wish! Last night some B52s were loaded with 12 nuclear bombs heading to Europe per HalTurnerRadioShow.com. (Enclosed new photos of yellow board, with a sticker added every day, the wonderful Games night, Movie night flyer. Plus the two dead computers and printer.) Also, I wonder why the ladies can't think of making an AIDS quilt for the Sofa because the seat is falling apart? We can have a sewing circle and donate goods to the church to prove that we are capable women? 

This very educational movie for low-income women to appreciate!