LANDSCAPE OF THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY:
Forty years ago Broome County was a beautiful place. I know this because I was born here and what
a shock to return after 25 years and see what has become of this community. It
really saddens me when I look around and see despair and hopelessness virtually
everywhere. How does one begin to clean
this mess up? Sometimes things can get
so bad that it is really difficult and frustrating to find a starting point. How did we get here? Broome County was the birthplace of the
flight simulator and was arguably the first “silicone valley” as IBM was born
here. Ironically, in 1853 the first drug
and alcohol treatment center in the United States was opened on the eastside of
Binghamton, called the New York Asylum for the Inebriated – later becoming
State Hospital for the mentally ill.
There are many factors that have led to the state of
regional economic despair that we are now experiencing. Some of measures contributing to the problem
were “necessary”, such as the federal municipal status of Binghamton being in
jeopardy, while some measures were just bad luck and the result of rising costs
and declining tax base.
In studying the list of applicants to narrow the field I
realized that none of the applicant organizations have taken on the task of
evaluating and meeting the needs per se.
While there were many, many fine applicants and all seemed to be doing
something worthwhile there was not one organization that was taking on the
needs as a whole. Perhaps the United Way
or some other large institutional organization takes on that role on a macro
level but there were no applicants where I said, “Ah ha! This is the one who is really tackling the
issues”. The important thing for me to
keep in mind is that every organization is doing something and each group
believes in what they are doing.
One of the greatest underserved needs in the Broome County
area is the rising use of opiates, specifically heroin. There are many organizations across the country
that treat addiction and most of these organizations charge between 30 and 45
thousand dollars for a 28-day stay. Surprisingly
our area, where the country’s first treatment center was built, has a need far
greater than our ability to address it.
According to Broome County Health officials we have an estimated 2,100
people (about 1% of the population) that uses heroin 5 or more days per
week. At the same time we have only 18
beds available for treatment.
“OUGHT IMPLIES CAN” (Emanuel Kant)
How can we expect people to “get better” if we don’t have
ample and necessary services available?
They are addicted! They have a
disease (according to the WHO, DSM, CDC and AMA). How can we hold people accountable to an
impossible standard? Our government is
supposed to protect us. Our government
is supposed to implement policies and laws designed to maximize the most good
for the greatest number. Our
public-private partnerships through research universities and hospitals are
supposed to serve the “needs of the community”.
What do we do when they fail us?
This is where I believe philanthropy plays a most important role. Philanthropy seems to take on a civic
responsibility to bridge the gap between unmet need and services. Where educational and governmental
organizations leave need philanthropy has accepted the calling of addressing.
Addiction is a disease where a person has a compulsory
inability to stop doing something.
Here is the apparent logic: As a society we say-
1.
We know you can’t stop, AND
2.
We are not able or willing to help you to stop,
SO
3.
Therefore, we REQUIRE you just stop.
BTW: If you can’t stop (and we know you can’t (see given #1))
- we are going to force you to choose between 1. a certain and painful death
(withdrawal) or 2. the commission of a serious crime (robbery = temp cure
withdrawal).
Either way you are going to end-up in jail (generating
federal funds that help fuel our “criminal justice economy”)
or dead (and not costing society any more money).
Somehow, I don’t think this is what our forefathers had in
mind when they established and settled this country. Our great nation was founded on the ideas of
autonomy, liberty and happiness. Liberty
implies choice and addiction is her enemy.
An untreated addict has not the capacity to engage in acts of autonomy,
the exercise of liberty nor the happiness derived therefrom.
Broome County, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s
interactive website, has a giving ratio of 2.34%, which is on the low side of
the national scale. All of the neighboring counties to Broome are within that
same range varying from 2.08% (Chenango County) to 2.64% (Tioga County). This indicates the competitiveness of local
charitable giving. When an area has a
growing number of unmet needs combined with a highly competitive fundraising
environment the results seem to be a large gap between need and services.
It troubles me that there are not more programs to inspire “grassroots”
entrepreneurship by truly teaching people to fish. Until such time as small business people
learn how to attract revenue from other markets into our area versus creating
business that sell goods and services within our area, growth will be non-existent. National organizations like the Kaufman
Foundation (check them out at: http://www.kauffman.org)
believe in an education and entrepreneurship approach to addressing regional
economic problems.
It has been both rewarding and educational to work with a
team of motivated, intelligent, and thoughtful people in narrowing down our
list of candidates this week. Binghamton
has a long way to go to get to where we once were but with good strategic
planning and investment we can get back to the community that we once were and
so much more!
I agree that Broome County can be quite a depressing place. As a freshman I'm not allowed to have a car (like all other freshmen here), so I am not usually exposed to the area, other than the grocery store and an occasional restaurant downtown. I recently had a friend visit, and when we went for a drive around the city we were completely shocked by the grimy, dilapidated buildings and the general feeling of hopelessness. In some ways, Binghamton reminds me of my hometown (another factory town that has seen better days).
ReplyDeleteI had previously heard of the Inebriate Asylum and was amazed by how beautiful the building is. Although there was hope of renovating and repurposing the landmark in 2008, this has been a sad failure. Check out the full story here: http://www.pressconnects.com/story/opinion/readers/2015/02/28/look-castle-binghamton-landmark-awaits-new-life/24174801/. Even when there is great potential, it's difficult to get things done, unfortunately.
Sadly, addiction is very difficult to treat. Treatment is expensive and time-consuming, and requires a great deal of commitment from the patient (which is difficult because their illness is an obstacle to making this commitment). From personal experience, I know that treatment is often unsuccessful. For these reasons, I don't think that substance abuse treatment should be the first objective for the community. I think that the saying, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" really applies here. But even then, there are numerous organizations that applied for our grant that have a role in preventing drug use in different ways, even in something as simple as giving people something else to do with their time.
I completely agree with your post, Kyle. As someone who was born and raised here, it kills me to see the state of Broome County as a whole and to see that many of my peers would rather complain about their hometown than do something to try and fix it. Although I was not around during the "golden days," I have heard many stories and listened to many teachers talk about the way the county used to be seen, not only in local eyes, but in throughout the country. From the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company and being the "carousel capital of the world," to IBM, to the Inebriate Asylum, to the many local businesses, this area had so many great years, and it is so unfortunate to see the number of people that would rather complain about the area or move away than do something to bring back those better days. The economy in this area was hurt very badly when the largest companies (namely Endicott-Johnson and, years later, IBM) packed up and left many people without work, but I think that this area still has potential.
ReplyDeleteAs for your observation on the applicants, I also noticed that many of the organizations were focused on specific niches within the community. That's not to say that these organizations aren't helping the area or that they are not worth our time or donations, just that they are focused on specific problems rather than the larger systemic ones. Unfortunately, I'm not sure we would be able to fix major systemic problems in the area with our limited funds, but it would have been nice to see some more organizations who try to work on these major problems. The data from your presentation and the others that dealt with drugs and addiction in the area were very shocking, and I agree with you that it would have been nice to see some organizations dealing with that, especially since it is common knowledge in the area that drug abuse is a growing issue. This issue is one that I would like to address as well, but I think that our money will be well spent with the organizations that did apply for our grant. I completely agree with Dana's last point, that drug use is a specific issue that is related to a bunch of other specific issues. I think that wherever we put our money, we will be helping the community as a whole. At the end of the day, we aren't going to be able to completely turn this community around, but we will be able to offer a little assistance with the resources we have been given.
Hi Kyle,
ReplyDeleteI understand how frustrating it must be to see Binghamton the way it is today when it use to be so prosperous. Today, like you mentioned, there are many issues that plague Binghamton and there doesn't seem to be a lot of hope. Like you mentioned, organizations are only able to alleviate the needs of community instead of work to directly eradicate problems that usually stem from unemployment like violence, drug use, poverty, and homelessness. While we are taught to give effectively and taught how to be good philanthropists, I feel that we are missing a very big component in philanthropy. I think that organizations must have an aspect that promotes advocacy to ensure that the needs are being met. Now this may seem daunting but I believe it is necessary. Binghamton especially has a community that is so very involved in issues here. They want to restore their town but the organizations that in place have very little time to address the "real" problem. Organizations are usually busy trying to meet basic needs they best they can but there is a great population that is suffering and the needs far exceed the services provided. This is why organizations need to bridge the gap between the government and "forgotten" people. This is why advocacy should be apart of philanthropy. To make an effective change people should be empowered to take what they are passionate about and expand beyond what is already in place. Unless there is cooperation, organizations will continue to putting on bandaids that are hard to keep sustaining. I think is time organizations get their support system in the community and readdress issues and make it an issue to the government so they can take up the cause as well in platforms that are beyond normal people reach.
Kyle, I really enjoyed this post. I didn't even know what or where Binghamton was before I came here for school. I am guilty of trash talking the city and looking down at how run down it is. I feel that I, as well as many other students, have a slight superiority complex and think that wherever we are from is so much better than Binghamton. We have a notion that this is a college town and Binghamton thrives off the students and faculty. It never came to my attention that 40 years Binghamton was a different kind of city. I would love to spread that fact and help Binghamton regain its prestige, I love this school and campus and once I move downtown next year I hope to love that area too. I think that Binghamton is already making progressive changes, there are many new student housing complexes as well as really good restaurants.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even though Binghamton is progressing in ways that benefits the students it also needs to progress in ways that benefit the "townies." I agree with you that heroin is a huge problem in Binghamton, I have researched this and have heard stories from my friends in Harpur Ferry. Heroin is most terrifying drug there is I think because of how addicting it is. I had one student from my high school pass away because of a heroin overdose and it shook me to my core. I would love the ability to help people who are addicted to heroin quit and to help stop the spread of heroin. I hold the same stance as you that being addicted to drugs is equivalent to being ill, and should be treated as such. The government should not treat people who do drugs as criminals, they should look at them as patients they need to help. Throwing drug addicts in jail helps nothing, America as a hold should look up to countries as Canada or the Netherlands whose drug policies we should imitate. We should strive to aid these individuals instead of hurting them further by putting them in jail. We need to solve problems and not put band-aids on them.
This kind of thinking meshes with the criteria my group had when picking organizations to donate money to. We didn't want to give a man a fish, we wanted to teach him how to fish. We wanted to donate to organizations who instill independence in people and who provide skills and resources to individuals so they can get out of their situation permanently. As much as I would love to reform the way our government views drug addiction I think that is too big of an issue for our class to tackle. We do not have the money or the resources to change a huge aspect of the national government.
What we do have is a group of 25 individuals who want to make a positive change to the Binghamton community. We all want to help out and want to donate to organizations that we believe will benefit the community as a whole. While we cannot change national government policies we can give to organizations that help drug addicts or educational organizations that can give youths an outlet and something other to do besides drugs. We cannot change federal laws but what we can do is give our money to organizations that teach children to stay away from drugs, to homeless individuals impacted by drugs, and to organizations that provide therapeutic support.
As a class we cant let the fact that we cant give every organization all the money in the world bring us down. We have to think positive and know that whatever choice we make and whatever organization we give money to and however much money we choose to give will help someone in some way. We cannot go wrong in the decision we make because our donations will help organizations in the community in a beneficial way. There will never be a right answer to the question "what is the best organization to give to" and that is okay. We cannot solve every problem but we can aid some and that will truly be fulfilling.