A recent article in the *New York Times* highlights the lives of four residents that are journeying to “rebuild their lives” through the Delancey Street Foundation. Based out of San Francisco, Delancey Street is a program that offers training and support for ex-prisoners and substance abusers re-entering society. The foundation’s website calls itself a self-help center for people who have hit rock bottom. As the article and the video show, the foundation seeks to teach and skill train these individuals so that they may enter into a successful drug free and crime free life within mainstream society.
Delancey Street is important for our studies this week because it offers a solution to Beckett and Herbert’s argument that urban law enforcement must consider alternative means for handling marginalized people. They assert that banishment creates a cycle of perpetual movement and incarceration without actually doing anything to resolve the underlying problems. Programs that follow Delancy Street’s model would get the ‘problem’ off the street and allow such individuals to positively contribute to their communities, while giving them the opportunity to better their socio-economic standing.
What makes Delancey Street unique and successful is its business model. The foundation has no staff, no funding and no professionals. Older residents teach and mentor the newer ones. Money is earned through enterprises that train residents while simultaneously supporting the entire operation. All revenue funds the cost of living and education for the residents, and profits are funneled back into the residential community.
Also mentioned in the video, Delancey Street focuses on partnerships within the community to build professional enterprises. A few of these enterprises include a restaurant, café, moving company, landscaping company and printing/copy services. The moving company is actually the largest independent moving company in the Bay Area, and is under contract with several large organizations including The Gap, Macy’s Department Store, Charles Schwab, the County of San Mateo and the San Francisco Giants. By building these partnerships, Delancey Street has established its credibility within the larger community. It has also ensured a number of opportunities for its residents upon their graduation – essentially, their official re-integration into society.
The Delancey Street Foundation is just one of many programs which takes ‘society’s garbage’ off the streets. It may be argued that this, in turn, betters society as a whole. Another option, which is currently the topic of heated debate in San Francisco, is to offer housing for homeless in abandoned or unused buildings throughout the city. If properly regulated, is that another viable solution for getting the large amounts of homeless off the streets? Would businesses and programs like Delancey Street be willing to help? And as the homeless population continues to grow in Eldorado, what measures will law enforcement and the community take for controlling OR assisting marginalized individuals?
I agree with you that Delaney Street provides a better solution to the problems addressed by Beckett and Herbert. I definitely think that their business model offers longer lasting results than urban law enforcement tactics because they handle deeper-rooted socio-economic issues like cost of living and education. I especially like the point that they do not have any staff members. I think is very effective because it not only creates social bonds within the community but it also establishes trust and familiarity. It helps to be helped by similar people with similar problems - people feel more connected and comfortable to change. I think the Eldorado Police Department should follow Delancey Street in these measures instead of just "modernizing" the department with more law enforcement officials. Programs like Delancey Street make the society better off in the long run because homeless people are no longer cycling back and forth between incarceration and the streets. Since Eldorado is facing a rising homeless population, the city should consider following these models for more long-term results.
ReplyDeleteML
Katie's blog refers to a solution for getting poor, homeless, ex-prisoners, and drug addicts off the streets and into jobs and homes. In El Dorado, due to the gentrification of the commercial district, the homeless population is increasing and the police department has increased its law enforcement staff to deal with the problems that result from this gentrification. The Delancey Street program would be useful for El Dorado. By implementing such a program, the poor and marginalized would become more active in the community through working, receiving an income, and gaining a good reputation for their "hard work" in the community. Consequently, crime rates would decline in El Dorado along with social problems. If this happened, there would be no need for the increase in public law enforcement officers, and thus, the city would be able to put money to other resources to help improve the city and its citizens.
ReplyDeleteEG
The Delancey Street foundation appears to be extremely successful at rehabilitating ex prisoners and substance abuse users re-entering society and allowing them to have a fresh start in life with career prospects and stability. This would be extremely useful in Eldorado for the sex workers and the homeless population. Both of these groups could be helped by a foundation such as this to train them in skills they need and then to employ them where they would be able to make money and get a second chance at life(for the sex workers this would be an alternative to prostituting themselves and for the homeless this would allow them to find housing and improve their situation). This idea could also be especially helpful for the sex workers if the fellow people they were training with and being trained by had been in their situation before. As the sergeant discussed in lecture this morning, often sex workers do not realize they are victims and therefore if they were being helped by people who had been in their situation then they would be able to help the women realize that they are victims and then go on to assist them in changing their life style and not wanting to go back to the sex trade. Assuming this was successful, the police department would not have to deal with the problems associated with homeless people and the sex workers and therefore would not need to necessarily modernize the police force to deal with the "new" problems.
ReplyDeleteRD
The video posted by Katie appears to offer a solution to the problem frequented by Beckett and Herbert- vagrancy. Through this program, those with felony convictions and/or without home are allowed to work with their cohorts in an attempt to build self-reliance and the ability to support oneself. Admittedly, this does seem to be a rather successful solution to the vagrancy problem as many people who would have previously been “banished” are now given a place to go to and a means to support themselves.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am not entirely convinced that this really attacks the root of the problem behind this issue. Many people are in the vagrant state because of drugs or mental disorders. While the Delancey Street program offers a place for the vagrants to go, it doesn’t mention any further preemptive measure to assure these people don’t fall back into their old ways. They may be off the streets, but underlying problems of drug use or mental orders could still persist, even after leaving the center. This brings to mind the old saying, “out of sight, out of mind,” where people perceive the problem as being fixed simply because they aren’t noticing any more homeless people or vagrants while it could very well be that these people are supporting addictions out of public sight once they have a place to go.
The El Dorado document states that homelessness is rising where gentrification is occurring. This is probably due to the prices in the area increasing and the low-income peoples of the community unable to compete financially. Technically, a center similar to the one in the video could directly improve the homeless population in El Dorado; if they are given a place to go instead of the streets and away from public eye, that problem is fixed. However, it still does not necessarily attack underlying problems that may lead to drug use or prostitution. I’m sure this program would help some of these people turn their lives around, however I am not convinced it is doing anything further than polishing the surface of the problem while the inside is left to decay.
TJM
The Delancey Street Program certainly offers an appealing option for dealing with marginalized populations, like the homeless. Beckett and Herbert would be pleased that it does more than move the problem around, it also gets to the root of it by engaging others in the community and helping those involved make positive changes in their lives. It's also rather utilitarian in the sense that it's self-sustaining, which means there wouldn't be complaints about it draining resources or breaking the bank. The program is heartening because it indicates that grass-roots level outreach and work, person to person, can really make a difference. As for El Dorado, the gentrification of the area and the subsequent rise in homelessness is to be expected. Perhaps implementing a program like this one would prevent "banishment" from occurring and lead to a significant drop in the homeless population as a result of widened, more attainable opportunities and community support. The only potential problem is the sustainability of the results over a longer period of time.
ReplyDelete- IT
I think that the Delancey Street Program just might be a great way to start solving some of the problems that we read about in "Banished." Time and time again, we saw that Beckett and Herbert described the ways in which the homeless and disadvantaged were excluded from public spaces and made to face courts and jail time simply for the reason that the are poor and "aesthetically displeasing." I think this is a very unfortunate logic to apply to poor people. Not everyone is capable of pulling themselves up "by their bootstraps." Society has done little to help the issue of homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. Like Beckett and Herbert, I agree 100% that banishment is a terrible way to deal with homelessness, and it does nothing but render the lives of the poor more difficult. This program seems to offer a viable alternative to Banishment, and seems to be a great start. I believe that even a program that starts out small can make a really big difference in the lives of the disadvantaged. Something clearly must be done about the issue of homelessness. As a society, it is our duty to reach out to others and assist them in their time of need. Unfortunately, the common pattern of the average American has been to turn a blind eye and walk right past the homeless person. I think that the Delancey Street Program is a promising program that might be able to jumpstart positive change.
ReplyDelete- M.E.
I like the mission behind the Delancey Street Programs but have serious doubts about its success for several reasons. The first is that the program has no professional staffing. I feel like in order for a rehabilitative program to be successful, it needs to be semi-aggressive in its approach and there needs to be a lot of discipline to make sure that the people in the program stay on a progressive track, especially if the people in the program are substance abusers and ex-criminals. The second is that based on the information provided, it is hard to determine who would be eligible for this program. I feel like rehabilitation does not work for everyone. It is almost the same ideology behind separating juveniles from criminal offenders - you don't want to mix the bad and good apples together because it increases the chances of all the apples going bad. In the case of El Dorado, I think that this program would seek to help the street workers and the homeless. However, I do not believe that a program like this would be successful when applied to these two groups because although the program provides an alternative lifestyle and life choices, it does not address the underlying issues that street workers and the homeless face. It takes a lot more than just a part-time job/side employment to get individuals to change their behaviors. Most of these individuals probably suffer from a lot of other side effects that the program fails to address, including psychological and behavioral disorders. You simply cannot take someone from their natural state of being, put them in a new environment, give them new sets of rules, and expect them to just change right away. The program's mission is sound, but I do not see it being as effective as it seems based on the lack of external support it receives.
ReplyDelete- ESM
It is interesting to see that other ideas are being put forward to solve the issues highlighted in Beckett and Herbert. It is clear from Beckett and Herbert that when other government agencies fail then it often falls upon the police to deal with the problem. In many instances the police are the wrong people to deal with this matter, and simply locking people up or moving them to a different location is not resolving the problem. Beckett and Herbert described the problems that arise out of the solutions they put forward and why they may not work. However it is good to see new innovative ideas being tested in the community and hopefully these will prove to be effective and the police can go on to solve real crime.
ReplyDeleteSiobhan Livingston
Being a Bay Area native, I have never heard of this foundation myself. I find the mission statement of the Delancey Street Foundation in being very progressive in helping those in need transition into society, expecially ex-convicts and drug abusers who have trouble landing a job once leaving prison. This foundation provides them with social services such as rehabilitation programs and job training skills to become contributors to their community. This helps them stabilize a good socio-economic standing, therefore reducing the chances of them returning back to prison. This foundation will definitely help Oakville, a dumping site for ex-convicts once released from prison. The opportunities in Oakville are scarce therefore increasing the chance of becoming repeated offenders adn landing them back in prison. This foundation also counters the underlying problems with banishment ordinances, that displace marginalize people into a disadvantage situations. This program could definitely contribute in helping the homelessness, drug abusers, and women who prostitute into having a more stable life. There is some concerns that I have about this program. How effective is it in attracting ex-convicts to participate? What is the probability of them not returning back to prison or their old drug addiction? Having some statistical evidence would definitely show the effectiveness of this foundation.
ReplyDeleteAAA
As I was watching the video on the Delancey Street Foundation, I was very happy to hear how people's lives have changed through it. To some extent, it brought order into disordered lives, which is what Beckett and Herbert wanted for tackling underlying problems of the homeless population, rather than simply moving them out of sight. The homeless population is rising in Eldorado as gentrification takes place, and it would be easy for banishment to become the norm. However, I think that the City Council can definitely counteract banishment by having Delancey Street Foundation as a model for helping the homeless. This may be a progress that requires patience though because I do not think that the Delancey Street Foundation, as it is right now, can address and tackle all the underlying problems of the homeless population. While the program may address drug rehabilitation and skill training (according to the testimonies in the videos), it might not address mental illnesses and relational difficulties. The rehabilitation program for the homeless will need to have therapy sessions. The City Council will also need to consider housing, and providing housing to the homeless in unused buildings throughout Eldorado until they can provide for themselves may not be such a bad idea with a program like Delancey Street in mind.
ReplyDelete-WAC
The Delancey Street Foundation provides a remarkable insight into potential alternative solutions to addressing some of today’s social problems. Whereas the people of Eldorado want to invest funds and resources into the police department to combat the emergence of “new problems,” the video reveals how a rehabilitative approach (as opposed to punitive) can generate more advantageous and reassuring results for at-risk populations. Ex-inmates and the homeless generally suffer from the same types of barriers to reintegration into mainstream society including the absence of a support network, unemployment, mental incapacities, drug addiction, and the lack of housing (and in fact, homelessness is usually an inevitable outcome for some inmates post-release). By providing valuable services and programs to these targeted populations, it will help to improve the life circumstances of these individuals and consequentially, enhance the community of Eldorado’s overall standard of living (by simultaneously addressing the concerns with the developing “social disorder”). According to Beckett and Herbert, punitive tactics are not the appropriate response and don’t solve the problem, but just serve to exacerbate these people’s situations by providing a short-term answer. These tools provide “no long-term solution to the perceived problem of disorder. Indeed, [they] arguably enhance that problem by rendering the lives of the excluded even more difficult and unstable.” (101-102) Therefore, the most beneficial course of action for Eldorado would be to allocate resources instead to the advancement of services and programs (like Delancey Street) that seek to expand these individuals’ opportunities and offer ways for them to overcome the varying obstacles preventing them from being productive members of society.
ReplyDeleteJ Robles
Hi Everyone - I have heard from some people that they have been having issues posting comments. Please e-mail directly if you cannot post your comment, and you will receive full credit.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the technical glitches.
- Jenny
I think the Delancey Street Foundation is a great example of an innovative alternative to mass incarceration, banishment of the homeless, and the war on drugs. I brought up in section the other week, the issue of diverting people away from the criminal justice system to "an alternative" that often does not exist! I believe that at times, people are being overly idealistic when they speak of diverting the victims of mass incarceration, the homeless, and the government's targets of the war on drugs. The truth is that we do not have many successful programs with enough funding to make a difference. BUT i believe Delancey Street is a shining example of what can be achieved with ingenuity and community support. I know of a San Francisco man that is involved with the Delancey Street Foundation who requires a house sitter for about 9 months of the year. He says that he only employs graduates from the program to watch his house because he thinks they are the most trustworthy members of the San Francisco community. I think this personal testimony shows the success of the program due the acceptance and fortification by the community. Of course the program would always benefit from more external support, but I think that it is a model that should be followed all over the country.
ReplyDelete-AJD
I found this foundation interning because it hits on points that the officers spoke
ReplyDeleteto us about today. The idea of having its own working there says a lot and it makes
the place more appealing for ex criminals to go get help at. The foundation's model
should be followed more often in order to successfully achieve rates that will keep
our streets safer. By following the model we would ensure that we alleviate some of
the socio-economic issues that people coming out of the prison system face when
assimilating back into society. Essentially, this program should be implemented to
help our communities lower the rate of crimes coming from previously caught
individuals and overall, it would help build partnerships with the communities and
the police and law enforcement agencies involved in such projects.
- LS
In Banished, Katherine Beckett & Steve Herbert note that, “The negative stereotyping of homeless individuals as deviant outcasts has fed the tendency to respond to homelessness with inadequate local and temporary policies that fail to address the systemic cause of homelessness.” The Delancey Street Foundation sounds like a fantastic example of a successful model for addressing the root causes of homelessness. It’s a great example of the idea of Neo Liberalism at work in the non-profit private sector. In class we’ve been discussing and studying the different ways the culture of Neo Liberalism is adopted in the public/private policing sector and it’s positive and negative outcomes. The Delancey Street Foundation is an example of how the doctrine of free market principles can be framed to address the three R’s: Recovery, Re-Training, Re-entry. On the other hand, when I read about how government resources are used to provide facilities to distribute “clean” needles to suffering addicts, I was shocked and disgusted. Ultimately, people are responsible for the choices they make in life. However, by successfully addressing the root causes of crime, poverty and recidivist incarceration, a Neo Liberal allocation of public resources only benefits the recipients, non-profits, communities and public sector institutions whose duty it is to actually protect and serve the people. Because ultimately, taxation without adequate representation is a danger to society in itself.
ReplyDelete- FS
The Delancey Street Foundation is certainly an admirable organization in terms of providing an alternative to "banishment", as described in Beckett and Herbert. However, in the case of Eldorado, while such a method may help alleviate "crimes" such as prostitution and drug trafficking, I don't think it provides an effective solution to the underlying causes of poverty. Of course, providing former convicts, prostitutes, substance abusers, etc. with rehabilitation programs and vocational training works to the benefit of all of society. At the same, though, placing these individuals in circumstances that only perpetuates poverty will produce few long-term results. It is unlikely that these people, the majority of whom I presume have family members to support and bills to pay, will be completely content working a minimum-wage job and satisfied with living at or below the poverty line the rest of their lives. Consequently, I believe in some, if not all cases, such individuals will inevitably resort to their former ways in order to suffice for the gaps in income.
ReplyDelete-T.Mai
This issue of what to do with the marginalized population is one that seems to be a reoccurring topic in our course. Beckett and Herbert's argument for urban law enforcement finding alternative means for dealing with this problem is just one of the ways the topic has come up. Another is when Captain Erik Upson spoke with the class this morning, primarily bringing up stay away orders in regard to repeat offenders in specific areas. The talk this morning then moved to the homeless issue in Berkeley and a very interesting comment the captain made pertained to the fact that the homeless problem in Berkeley is not an issue that the Berkeley Police Department can deal with, it is both a social and mental health problem. Interestingly enough, the two officers this morning spoke of programs similar to Delancey Street that attempt to fix the underlying problem of the homeless by providing housing. The problem with this program was that many of the homeless refused the help or could not acclimate themselves to the new environment. One of the key points to the speakers this morning was that for the homeless issue and for those with stay away orders, the Berkeley PDwill attempt to have alternate means for handling marginalized people rather than taking them to jail.
ReplyDeleteThe Delancey Street organization seems to be a great rehabilitation program in such times where many of these publicly funded facilities are being cut. Hopefully El Dorado’s police department will help to implement programs similar to Delancey Street, and approach the “new problems arising from growth and development” in similar ways that the Berkeley Police Department claimed to. If El Dorado were able to implement programs such as Delancey street, there may be less need for the “recruitment of a new generation of law enforcement officers” and the funding that would have otherwise gone to new hires could go to these programs.