The Doe Fund Responds to The Appeal
Jonathan Ben-Menachem’s article “It’s Feudalism, Pure Exploitation” is Pure Sensationalism.
The Doe Fund operates three transitional homeless residences in New York City housing 637 adult men. Of those, 410 voluntarily participate in our 30 year old, award-winning Ready, Willing & Able program. Upon enrolling, they sign a contract agreeing to work, be randomly drug tested, save money, etc. This contract, which the anonymously quoted trainee questioning ’where the money goes’ also reviewed and signed, lays out that fees are deducted from stipends for career development, transportation, clothing, and other enhanced services not available elsewhere.
Mr. Ben-Menachem employs magical thinking in contrasting the net take-home pay of the average New York City minimum wage worker versus our trainees. The article says that an NYC minimum wage worker has net wages of $12 an hour after taxes, which Mr. Ben-Menachem compares to the $7.89/hour net our trainees take home after paying the Program Service Fee. This comparison is divorced from reality.
What Mr. Ben-Menachem chooses to ignore is that our trainees get to keep that $7.89; they do not have to pay for rent and food, whereas the average NYC worker has to use much of that $12 to pay for core expenses. Therefore, the average NYC minimum wage worker winds up with a significantly lower net pay after taking into consideration the real costs of rent and food.
Every trainee in Ready, Willing & Able received an explanation of the program service fee before its increase went into effect, so that they could see the real economics behind it and understand that—even with the increased program service fee—they are better off staying in Ready, Willing & Able than in a minimum wage job. Again, participation in Ready, Willing & Able is voluntary, not a precondition for living in our transitional residences.
Because half of our participants are on parole, they are obligated to follow the conditions of their parole, which include curfew regulations. Non-compliance with Ready, Willing & Able-specific program rules and regulations does not necessarily constitute a violation of parole. For example, men wearing do-rags are not reported for parole violations. (There is, however, a uniform that trainees wear to work.)
Graduation from the program is contingent on three criteria: full time employment, independent housing, and sobriety. Vocational classes are not required for graduation. In accordance with the executive order that impacted all NYC schools, we suspended those classes in March to protect residents from COVID-19. (They have recently resumed through a combination of remote and in person learning.)
Assistant Professor Reuben Jonathan Miller, quoted in the article, insinuates that re-entry service providers like The Doe Fund focus on “soft skills” rather than “direct connections to the labor market or permanent housing”. This is baseless. The Doe Fund collects and analyzes extensive data to track outcomes. However, the reentry success rate is just one measure of a program’s impact on a human life. Since the inception of Ready, Willing & Able, thousands have graduated with full time employment and independent housing, and our program has reduced recidivism by 62%.
Beyond these numbers, The Doe Fund has impacted the lives of countless others—none of whom could have gone to work or graduated from Ready, Willing & Able. In our role as “real estate developers,” as Mr. Ben-Menachem disparagingly labels us, we have provided safe, dignified, affordable and supportive housing to those who are truly the most vulnerable: people with physical and mental disabilities, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness; families recovering from substance abuse and homelessness; and veterans. Although they do not factor into our outcomes, without the continuum of care our housing represents, their outcomes would be bleak.
Lastly, the locations mentioned by the reporter as being considered for replication are actually already home to thriving model programs. Rather than “exporting [our] welfare-punishment framework,” we have been asked by elected officials from across the country to provide opportunity to America’s most marginalized so they can rebuild their lives through work.
Felipe Vargas is the Vice President of Programs at The Doe Fund
