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The Doe Fund
FoundedNew York, NY (1985), George T. McDonald, President
Type501(c)(3) non-profit
Location
  • Headquarters in New York, NY
Area served
New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA.; programs in other US cities have modeled Willing & Able’s “work first” operational philosophy
ServicesReady, Willing & Able, which provides enrollees with paid transitional work and housing while providing the occupational training and life skills they need to secure permanent employment and self-supported housing. Revenue-generating social entrepreneurial ventures primarily staffed by enrollees which include direct mail, pest control, and biodiesel feedstock companies
MethodReady, Willing & Able: America, a replication initiative to bring the program to communities nationwide
Revenue$50 million annual operating budget


The Doe Fund is a nonprofit organization that provides paid transitional work, housing, educational opportunities, counseling, and career training to people with histories of homelessness, incarceration, and substance abuse.

Graduates of The Doe Fund’s flagship Ready, Willing & Able "work first" program secure permanent housing and employment and become taxpaying members of their communities, fulfilling the group’s mission to break the cycles of homelessness, addiction and criminal recidivism.

Origins

[edit]

The Doe Fund was founded in 1985 [1] by George McDonald when homelessness was at crisis levels in New York City. McDonald, an executive in the private sector at that time, began by feeding homeless people on the floor of Grand Central Terminal for 700 consecutive nights.[2] As he came to know many of them, George McDonald became convinced they would prefer a job to a handout. “I just listened to people,” said McDonald. At Ready, Willing & Able’s 20th graduation ceremony in March 2011, he recalled these individuals telling him“’…this is a great sandwich, but I really wish I had a room to stay in and a job to pay for it.’ People wanted to work.” [3] George McDonald's conviction that paid work and personal responsibility could turn lives around became the foundation for The Doe Fund's "work first" philosphy.[4]

He and his wife, Harriet Karr-McDonald, developed The Doe Fund’s key programs based on their belief that most homeless men and women will seize the opportunity to change their lives if given the opportunity.

Leadership

[edit]

George McDonald was raised in Spring Lake, N.J. and attended Catholic schools where he took the nuns’ dictum – that “other people’s miseries are your miseries” [5] - to heart.

Working in the garment industry as a marketing executive, he became conscious of the swelling ranks of the homeless during his daily commute through Grand Central Terminal and decided he had to do something about it.[6]

He started by handing out sandwiches, soon deciding he could be of more use if he ran for Congress. Though he lost the race, the visibility he gained from campaigning provided him a platform from which to advocate for the homeless.[7]

In 1985, an Eastern European woman known only as “Mama” - whom George McDonald had fed and befriended - died of exposure, the result of spending the night outdoors after Metro-North police ejected her from Grand Central Terminal on Christmas Eve.

The incident crystallized George McDonald’s growing conviction that he needed to be on the frontlines, providing the homeless with real alternatives to the street.

He created the organization he called The Doe Fund in honor of “Mama Doe.”

Doe Fund founder and president George T. McDonald

Three years later, he lost another homeless friend from the terminal, and he has said that death also proved to be a signal event.[8]

According to news accounts at that time, April Savino was a spirited and smart but crack-addicted teenager, who, having lost all hope for a better life, shot herself in the head with a stolen gun on the steps of Saint Agnes Church on East 43rd St.

At her funeral, George McDonald gave the eulogy[9] and afterwards was approached by Harriet Karr-McDonald (then Harriet Karr), a screenwriter[10] from Beverly Hills.[11]

Karr-McDonald, who grew up in Greenwich Village, became close to April while in New York researching a screenplay about homeless people living in Grand Central Terminal. Karr-McDonald had arranged for her to enter a Beverly Hills rehabilitation center. Once April completed treatment, Karr-McDonald intended to adopt her and bring her home to Beverly Hills - but April hid from her on the day they were scheduled to leave New York.

Karr-McDonald has said her inability to save April influenced her decision to devote her life to the homeless and move to New York to work with George McDonald.[9] Within six months, the two were married and subsequently established further Doe Fund initiatives together.

As The Doe Fund’s Executive Vice President, Karr-McDonald presides over development of the organization’s programs and its fund-raising efforts.[12]

Ready, Willing & Able

[edit]

In 1990 The Doe Fund won two separate contracts from the city[13] the first, a work contract to renovate low-income housing; the second, a contract to purchase and renovate an abandoned building on Gates Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where program participants would live.[5] To attract volunteers the McDonalds canvassed Grand Central Terminal and homeless shelters throughout the city, inviting anyone who wanted to work and was willing to stop using drugs and alcohol.

The work project – Ready, Willing & Able – outperformed the requirements of the city contract, and its formerly homeless employees were credited with doing a “great job” by then- New York City Housing Commissioner Felice Michetti.[14]

For nearly 100 of these Ready, Willing & Able trainees the work was a stepping-stone to getting full-time private sector jobs and their own apartments.

But the program’s contracts were among many other cuts made by New York City when it struggled to meet its budget in 1995 and sold much of the low-income housing that was the subject of The Doe Fund’s key work contract.

Faced with an immediate need to redirect his workforce, George McDonald decided they should address the growing problem of litter on New York’s streets. Using Ready, Willing & Able’s remaining funds to buy the men rolling trash buckets, brooms, and bright blue uniforms with American flags sewn on the sleeves, he sent them out to clean a five-block area around East 86th Street. The crews quickly became so popular that neighborhood residents began to support them with private donations, enabling Ready, Willing & Able to expand.

The Doe Fund’s community improvement projects now span over 150 street miles in New York City and Philadelphia [15] and the organization’s annual operating budget is approximately $50 million. But Ready, Willing & Able’s core tenets remain largely unchanged:

Before they can enter, participants must give up drugs, alcohol and public assistance (with the exception of Medicaid) and agree to submit to random, twice-weekly drug tests.

They also have to sign waivers allowing The Doe Fund to identify orders for any current or past child support they may owe.

Once accepted, they move into one of Ready, Willing & Able’s dormitory-style residences, and, following a month of counseling and orientation, they are put to work for 30 hours a week starting at $7.40 an hour, which gets raised to $8.15 after six months.

All are first assigned to a Ready, Willing & Able cleaning crew, after which they can transition to work in the kitchens, as drivers, on security details or in other assignments—most of these positions created by The Doe Fund's various social entrepreneurial ventures.

All take classes in life and computer skills, job preparation and financial management. After three months, they are offered occupational training in fields that include culinary arts, green building maintenance and pest control.

Graduation from the program comes 9–12 months later, once they have found full-time employment, are living in their own non-subsidized apartments, maintaining complete sobriety and, if applicable, paying child support.[16] Sixty-two percent see the program through to completion.[17]

A Harvard University study by criminal justice expert Bruce Western[18] which tracked Ready, Willing & Able's formerly incarcerated clients for three years after their graduations, found that they were 60% less likely to be convicted of a felony than other parolees. The resulting savings in social service and criminal justice expenses exceeded the program’s costs by 21%, the study found.[11]

Social Ventures

[edit]

The Doe Fund operates a number of social entrepreneurial ventures that provide paid apprenticeships and career training to Ready, Willing & Able trainees, while also aiming to be self-sustaining. These include:

  • Back Office of New York, a full service bulk mailing, data and document imaging fulfillment operation.[19]
  • Pest at Rest, a commercial and residential pest control service that provides classroom and on-the-job training to participants, preparing them to take a state licensing exam as pesticide applicators.[20]
  • RWA Resource Recovery, a business that collects waste cooking oils from restaurants and food service businesses to be converted into biodiesel fuel.[21]
  • Culinary Arts Program, which provides enrollees with training and job experience in food handling and preparation, hospitality and basic nutrition. Participants cook and serve 900 meals a day for residents of The Doe Fund’s four facilities and cater events in Greater New York.[11]

Funding

[edit]

While some of the Doe Fund's projects are self-sustaining, the charity also receives funding from numerous major corporations and foundations as well as private individuals.

It has received multiple grants from the Carnegie Corporation, which has supported more than 550 New York City arts and social service institutions since its inception in 2002.[11]

Most recently, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) awarded The Doe Fund a $5.6 million grant to expand upon Ready Willing & Able’s pioneering work in the field of prisoner reentry. The Doe Fund is one of seven awardees chosen from hundreds of service providers across the country.[22]

The award announced by the DOL on June 23, 2011 is earmarked to help new parolees – many of them non-custodial fathers – gain employment and stay out of prison. The DOL set a goal for all to cut their participants expected criminal recidivism rates by half. The Doe Fund will use these monies to provide transitional work, job training and career placement for the volunteer participants.[23]

Awards

[edit]

Over the years The Doe Fund and its founders have received numerous awards and honors.

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research awarded the William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship to George McDonald in 2008 for his work-based programs to reduce homelessness and criminal recidivism.

The Institute credited George McDonald with “changing the way the problem of homelessness is understood, going far beyond the provision of shelter to help former street people and prisoners regain their self-respect and become productive citizens.” [24]

Also in 2008, The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness presented The Doe Fund with its 2008 Innovator of Special Merit Award and St. John’s University awarded George McDonald its Spirit of Service Award.[11]

The group has also received multiple honors from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including HUD’s first-ever Award for Best Practices, instituted in 1999.[11]

George McDonald was honored personally in 2004 with a New York Post Liberty Medal Award, which the newspaper bestows annually upon individuals who “epitomize the city’s unsung heroes.” [25][26]

Criticism

[edit]

Despite The Doe Fund’s many accolades, it has had its critics.

Early in The Doe Fund's existence, George McDonald, a pioneer of the Workfare movement, locked horns with New York's Coalition for the Homeless [27] for[28] requiring Ready, Willing & Able facility residents to apportion part of their earnings to support program expenses, a policy he believed helped prepare them for self-sustaining life outside the program.[29]

Later on, he came under fire for his fierce lobbying to halt teardowns of Single Room Occupancy buildings, arguing they were a necessary first foothold toward permanent housing.[30] Though he ultimately lost that battle, The Doe Fund constructed and still operates the first Single Room Occupancy facility built in New York City in 50 years.[31] The Peter Jay Sharp Residence, located in East Harlem, has 74 units, each with bath and kitchen, plus communal lounges and a fitness center.[32]

Questions also have been raised regarding the organization's funding and executive compensation.

A 2010 report by the New York Times [33] questioned whether donations by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg or his charities were an attempt to influence Doe Fund employees’ testimony in support of his bid to overturn term limits.

A Doe Fund official countered that George McDonald’s longstanding opposition to term limits dates back to at least 1993, when he publicly supported the Coalition for Voters Choice in its unsuccessful battle to prevent the term limits measure from becoming law.
The New York Post criticized the charity by questioning the compensation it paid Founder and President George McDonald.[34] However, The Doe Fund’s spokesman said his salary represented less than 1% of the organization’s operating budget,[35][36] comparing it to salaries at organizations of similar size and complexity, and noting that The Doe Fund meets all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s Standards for Charity Accountability.[37]

In 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor conducted audits of each of its Welfare-to-Work contracts, one of which had been awarded to The Doe Fund. The auditor claimed that approximately $1.6 million of a $5 million grant was improperly allocated.[38] This finding was revised in a subsequent 2008 review, which ultimately determined that more than two-thirds of the previously disallowed funds were properly administered.[39]

More recently, George McDonald came under fire from The New York Daily News, which charged that the $100,000 honorarium accompanying the 2008 William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship – which he kept – was intended for his charity.[40]

But following that report’s publication, the Manhattan Institute issued a clarification stating that these honoraria are awarded to individuals in the tradition of Nobel Prize and MacArthur “genius” awards and that the money was intended for George McDonald individually.[41]

Recent Developments

[edit]
Ready, Willing & Able trainees, sprucing up Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ

In 2009, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the NYC Department of Homeless Services, The Doe Fund created a 138-slot program for formerly homeless veterans at its Peter Jay Sharp Center for Opportunity in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The program has since helped over 500 Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.[11]

Recently, the center added a photography course to their offerings for veterans.[42] The New York Times reported that the collected works of workshop participants were exhibited at the Soho gallery Arts Connect in New York City in November, 2010.[43] In a growing number of cities, the innovative approaches The Doe Fund pioneered in New York and Philadelphia have become the basis for a variety of partner projects and work-based initiatives.[44]

In Washington, DC, Ready, Willing & Workinghas contracts for its formerly homeless clients to provide cleanup, landscaping, maintenance and recycling services.[45]

In consultation with The Doe Fund, The Cara Program in Chicago created CleanSlate[46] in 2005, a now multimillion dollar operation which provides those afflicted by homelessness and poverty with intensive job training while they get paid to clean, landscape and remove snow from city streets.

In December 2010, the Open Door Shelter of Norwalk, CT launched Hope Works for its homeless clients, modeling the program after Ready, Willing & Able.[47]

The program has also been replicated in Atlanta, GA and Jersey City, NJ.[11]

As of June 2011, with the $5.6 million grant in June from the U.S. Department of Labor, Ready, Willing & Able has a chance to greatly expand its field of influence. Should the demonstration succeed, The Doe Fund’s model becomes a candidate for nationwide replication.[23]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Doe Fund". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  2. ^ Tannenhauser, Carol. "History of the Doe Fund". The Doe Fund. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  3. ^ Anthony, Attiyya. "Ready, Willing & Able Celebrates 20th Year". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  4. ^ McGowan, Kathleen (February 28, 2000). "How The Doe Rises". City Limits Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  5. ^ a b "About Us: Our History".
  6. ^ "Public Lives; A Blue Jumpsuit and a Path to Self-Sufficiency". New York Times. June 4, 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  7. ^ Miller, Samantha (November 30, 1998). "Task Master". People Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  8. ^ Hevesi, Dennis. "Running Away". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Harriet McDonald speaks at The Doe Fund's 2009 Gala". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  10. ^ "Harriet Karr". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h "About Us: Founders". Retrieved 7 December 2011. Cite error: The named reference "The Doe Fund website" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  12. ^ Adrianne, Adrianne (April 27, 2008). "Gotham Gigs: Helping Hand". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  13. ^ "Together We Are Ready, Willing & Able" (PDF). The Doe Fund. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  14. ^ Golden, Tim (March 12, 1990). "Homeless, They Build for Peers". New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  15. ^ "Annual Report, The Doe Fund, 1990". The Doe Fund. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  16. ^ Fastenberg, Dan (October 4, 2011). "Doe Fund Helps Ex-Cons Join Ranks of the Employed". AOL Jobs. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  17. ^ Toscano, John (April 16, 2008). "Community Clean Up, Jobs Rehab Program Gets $564 G Fed Grant". Western Queens Gazette. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  18. ^ "The Right Way to Handle Former Inmates". New York Times. November 29, 2007.
  19. ^ "Back Office of New York". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  20. ^ "Pest at Rest". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  21. ^ "RWA Resource Recovery". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  22. ^ "The Doe Fund Announces $5.6 Million Federal Grant". PR Newswire, June 27, 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  23. ^ a b "US Labor Department announces nearly $40 million for Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration programs". United States Department of Labor. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  24. ^ "The Manhattan Institute Social Entrepreneurship Initiative William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship, 2008". The Manhattan Institute. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  25. ^ Delfiner, Rita (October 8, 2004). "In the News: Quiet Heroes Get Their Due". New York Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  26. ^ Delfiner, Rita (October 8, 2004). "In the News: Quiet Heroes Get Their Due". New York Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  27. ^ Stern, Sol (Summer, 1997). "Who Says the Homeless Should Work?". City Journal. Retrieved 7 December 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Vine, Phyliss (January 1, 1997). "A "Cure" for the Homeless". City Limits Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  29. ^ Tierney, John (December 22, 1999). "The Big City; Helping Hand Holds Out A Broom". New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  30. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (April 25, 1993). "N.Y. Hopes to Help Homeless by Reviving Single Room Occupancy Hotels : Poverty: The city legislated to reduce the SROs decades ago. Now, it blames that policy for forcing people to live on the street". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  31. ^ Cutler, Steven. "The Doe Fund — Building Affordable Housing in (and Despite) New York City". ABO Developments Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  32. ^ "Supportive Housing: Peter J. Sharp Residence". The Doe Fund. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  33. ^ Kovaleski, Serge F. (November 6, 2010). "Charity Backing Bloomberg 3rd Term Got Millions". New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  34. ^ Topousis, Tom (June 29, 2009). "THE 'DOUGH' FUND". New York Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  35. ^ Otten, Laura. "Executive Excess". Nonprofit University Blog. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  36. ^ "Doe Fund Inc". Guidestar. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  37. ^ "New York BBB Wise Giving Report for Doe Fund". Better Business Bureau. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  38. ^ "Welfare-to-Work Grant, The Doe Fund, Inc., September, 2006" (PDF). US Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  39. ^ "US Department of Labor Revises Doe Fund Audit". United States Department of Labor. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  40. ^ Moore, Tina (November 5, 2010). "Doe Fund nonprofit head George McDonald pocketed $100,000 prize given to the charity". New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  41. ^ Mone, Lawrence Mone. "Manhattan Institute Clarification Regarding 2008 William E Simon Award to Doe Fund President George McDonald, May 17, 2011". The Manhattan Institute. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  42. ^ Lazarowitz, Elizabeth (December 24, 2010). "Veterans get off the street and into art by finding a home and photography". New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  43. ^ Hoffman, Meredith (November 3, 2011). "Behind Lens, Vets Find Respite From Troubled Pasts". New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  44. ^ Fastenberg, Dan (October 4, 2011). "Doe Fund Helps Ex-Cons Join Ranks Of The Employed". AOL Jobs. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  45. ^ "Ready Willing & Working: A Solution to Ending Homelessness and Criminal Recidivism in D.C." Ready, Willing & Working. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  46. ^ "What We Do: CleanSlate". The Cara Program. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  47. ^ Wright, Chase (December 5, 2010). "Program gives homeless work". The Hour. Retrieved 7 December 2011.

Category:Organizations

Origins

[edit]

The Doe Fund was founded in 1985 [1]by George McDonald when homelessness was at crisis levels in New York City. McDonald, an executive in the private sector at that time, began by feeding homeless people on the floor of Grand Central Terminal for 700 consecutive nights [2].

As he came to know many of them, George McDonald became convinced they would prefer a job to a handout. “I just listened to people,” said McDonald. At Ready, Willing & Able’s 20th graduation ceremony in March 2011, he recalled these individuals telling him“’…this is a great sandwich, but I really wish I had a room to stay in and a job to pay for it.’ People wanted to work.” [3] George McDonald’s conviction that paid work and personal responsibility could turn lives around. “Work First” [4] became the philosophical underpinning for The Doe Fund.

He and his wife, Harriet Karr-McDonald, developed The Doe Fund’s key programs based on their belief that most homeless men and women will seize the opportunity to change their lives if given the opportunity.

Leadership

[edit]

George McDonald was raised in Spring Lake, N.J. and attended Catholic schools where he took the nuns’ dictum – that “other people’s miseries are your miseries” [5] - to heart.

Working in the garment industry as a marketing executive, he became conscious of the swelling ranks of the homeless during his daily commute through Grand Central Terminal and decided he had to do something about it. [6]

He started by handing out sandwiches, soon deciding he could be of more use if he ran for Congress. Though he lost the race, the visibility he gained from campaigning provided him a platform from which to advocate for the homeless. [7]

In 1985, an Eastern European woman known only as “Mama” - whom George McDonald had fed and befriended - died of exposure, the result of spending the night outdoors after Metro-North police ejected her from Grand Central Terminal on Christmas Eve.

The incident crystallized George McDonald’s growing conviction that he needed to be on the frontlines, providing the homeless with real alternatives to the street.

He created the organization he called The Doe Fund in honor of “Mama Doe.”

Three years later, he lost another homeless friend from the terminal, and he has said that death also proved to be a signal event. [8]

According to news accounts at that time, April Savino was a spirited and smart but crack-addicted teenager, who, having lost all hope for a better life, shot herself in the head with a stolen gun on the steps of Saint Agnes Church on East 43rd St.

At her funeral, George McDonald gave the eulogy and[9] afterwards was approached by Harriet Karr-McDonald (then Harriet Karr), a screenwriter[10] from Beverly Hills. [11]

Karr-McDonald, who grew up in Greenwich Village, became close to April while in New York researching a screenplay about homeless people living in Grand Central Terminal. Karr-McDonald had arranged for her to enter a Beverly Hills rehabilitation center. Once April completed treatment, Karr-McDonald intended to adopt her and bring her home to Beverly Hills - but April hid from her on the day they were scheduled to leave New York.

Karr-McDonald has said her inability to save April influenced her decision to devote her life to the homeless and move to New York to work with George McDonald.[9] Within six months, the two were married and subsequently established further Doe Fund initiatives together.

As The Doe Fund’s Executive Vice President, Karr-McDonald presides over development of the organization’s programs and its fund-raising efforts[12].

In 1990 The Doe Fund won two separate contracts from the city[13] the first, a work contract to renovate low-income housing; the second, a contract to purchase and renovate an abandoned building on Gates Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where program participants would live. [5] To attract volunteers the McDonalds canvassed Grand Central Terminal and homeless shelters throughout the city, inviting anyone who wanted to work and was willing to stop using drugs and alcohol.

The work project – Ready, Willing & Able – outperformed the requirements of the city contract, and its formerly homeless employees were credited with doing a “great job” by then- New York City Housing Commissioner Felice Michetti. [14]

For nearly 100 of these Ready, Willing &Able trainees the work was a stepping-stone to getting full-time private sector jobs and their own apartments.

But the program’s contracts were among many other cuts made by New York City when it struggled to meet its budget in 1995 and sold much of the low-income housing that was the subject of The Doe Fund’s key work contract.

Faced with an immediate need to redirect his workforce, George McDonald decided they should address the growing problem of litter on New York’s streets. Using Ready, Willing & Able’s remaining funds to buy the men rolling trash buckets, brooms, bright blue uniforms with American flags sewn on the sleeves, he sent them out to clean a five-block area around East 86th Street. The crews quickly became so popular that neighborhood residents began to support them with private donations, enabling Ready Willing & Able to expand.

Mural at the The Peter Jay Sharp Center for Opportunity in Brooklyn depicting The Doe Fund's Ready, Willing & Able program, which provides beds, work and job skills training for homeless men who want to be self- sufficient.
Mural Depicting a member of The Doe Fund's Ready, Willing & Able program.


The Doe Fund’s community improvement projects now span over 150 street miles in New York City and Philadelphia [15] and the organization’s annual operating budget is approximately $50 million. But Ready, Willing & Able’s core tenets remain largely unchanged:

Before they can enter, participants must give up drugs, alcohol and public assistance (with the exception of Medicaid) and agree to submit to random, twice-weekly drug tests.

They also have to sign waivers allowing The Doe Fund to identify orders for any current or past child support they may owe.

Once accepted, they move into one of Ready, Willing & Able’s dormitory-style residences, and, following a month of counseling and orientation, they are put to work for 30 hours a week starting at $7.40 an hour, which gets raised to $8.15 after six months.

All are first assigned to a Ready, Willing & Able cleaning crew, after which they can transition to work in the kitchens, as drivers, on security details or in other assignments -- most of these positionscreated by The Doe Fund's various social entrepreneurial ventures.

All take classes in life and computer skills, job preparation and financial management. After three months, they are offered occupational training in fields that include culinary arts, green building maintenance and pest control.

Graduation from the program comes 9-12 months later, once they have found full-time employment, are living in their own non-subsidized apartments, maintaining complete sobriety and, if applicable, paying child support. [16] Sixty-two percent see the program through to completion. [17] [xxi]

A Harvard University study by criminal justice expert Bruce Western[18]which tracked RWA’s formerly incarcerated clients for three years after their graduations, found that they were 60% less likely to be convicted of a felony than other parolees. The resulting savings in social service and criminal expenses exceeded the program’s costs by 21%, the study found.[11]

Social Ventures

[edit]

The Doe Fund operates a number of social entrepreneurial ventures that provide paid apprenticeships and career training to Ready, Willing & Able trainees, while also aiming to be self-sustaining. These include:

  • Back Office of New York, a full service bulk mailing, data and document imaging fulfillment operation[19].
  • Pest at Rest, a commercial and residential service pest control service that provides classroom and on-the-job training to participants, preparing them to take a state licensing exam as pesticide applicators. [20]
  • RWA Resource Recovery, a business that collects waste cooking oils from restaurants and food service businesses to be converted into biodiesel fuel. [21]
  • Culinary Arts Program, which provides enrollees with training and job experience in food handling and preparation, hospitality and basic nutrition. Participants cook and serve 900 meals a day for residents of The Doe Fund’s four facilities and cater events in Greater New York. [11]

Funding

[edit]

While some of the Doe Fund's projects are self-sustaining, the charity also receives funding from numerous major corporations and foundations as well as private individuals.

It has received multiple grants from the Carnegie Corporation, which has supported more than 550 New York City arts and social service institutions since its inception in 2002. [11]

Most recently, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) awarded The Doe Fund a $5.6 million grant to expand upon Ready Willing & Able’s pioneering work in the field of prisoner reentry. The Doe Fund is one of seven awardees chosen from hundreds of service providers across the country. [22]

The award announced by the DOL on June 23, 2011 is earmarked to help new parolees – many of them non-custodial fathers – gain employment and stay out of prison. The DOL set a goal for all to cut their participants expected criminal recidivism rates by half. The Doe Fund will use these monies to provide transitional work, job training and career placement for the volunteer participants. [23]

Awards

[edit]

Over the years The Doe Fund and its founders have received numerous awards and honors.

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research awarded the William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship to George McDonald in 2008 for his work-based programs to reduce homelessness and criminal recidivism.

The Institute credited George McDonald with “changing the way the problem of homelessness is understood, going far beyond the provision of shelter to help former street people and prisoners regain their self-respect and become productive citizens.” [24]

Also in 2008, The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness presented The Doe Fund with its 2008 Innovator of Special Merit Award and St. John’s University awarded George McDonald its Spirit of Service Award. [11]

The group has also received multiple honors from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including HUD’s first-ever Award for Best Practices, instituted in 1999. [11]


George McDonald was honored personally in 2004 with a New York Post Liberty Medal Award, which the newspaper bestows annually upon individuals who “epitomize the city’s unsung heroes.” [25] [26]

Criticism

[edit]

Despite The Doe Fund’s many accolades, it has had its critics.

Early in The Doe Fund's existence, George McDonald, a pioneer of the Workfare movement, locked horns with New York's Coalition for the Homeless [27]for[28] requiring Ready, Willing & Able facility residents to apportion part of their earnings to support program expenses, a policy he believed helped prepare them for self-sustaining life outside the program. [29]

Later on, he came under fire for his fierce lobbying to halt teardowns of Single Room Occupancy buildings, arguing they were a necessary first foothold toward permanent housing. [30] Though he ultimately lost that battle, The Doe Fund constructed and still operates the first Single Room Occupancy facility built in New York City in 50 years. [31]The Peter Jay Sharp Residence, located in East Harlem, has 74 units, each with bath and kitchen, plus communal lounges and a fitness center. [32]

Questions also have been raised regarding the organization's funding and executive compensation.

A 2010 report by the New York Times [33] questioned whether donations by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg or his charities were an attempt to influence Doe Fund employees’ testimony in support of his bid to overturn term limits.

A Doe Fund official countered that George McDonald’s longstanding opposition to term limits dates back to at least 1993, when he publicly supported the Coalition for Voters Choice in its unsuccessful battle to prevent the term limits measure from becoming law. The New York Post criticized the charity by questioning the compensation it paid Founder and President George McDonald. [34] However, The Doe Fund’s spokesman said his salary represented less than 1% of the organization’s operating budget[35][36], comparing it to salaries at organizations of similar size and complexity, and noting that The Doe Fund meets all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s Standards for Charity Accountability[37].

In 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor conducted audits of each of its Welfare-to-Work contracts, one of which had been awarded to The Doe Fund. The auditor claimed that approximately $1.6 million of a $5 million grant was improperly allocated[38]. This finding was revised in a subsequent 2008 review, which ultimately determined that more than two-thirds of the previously disallowed funds were properly administered[39].

More recently, George McDonald came under fire from The New York Daily News, which charged that the $100,000 honorarium accompanying the 2008 William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship– which he kept – was intended for his charity[40].

But following that report’s publication, the Manhattan Institute issued a clarification stating that these honoraria are awarded to individuals in the tradition of Nobel Prize and MacArthur “genius” awards and that the money was intended for George McDonald individually. [41]

Recent Developments

[edit]

In 2009, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the NYC Department of Homeless Services, The Doe Fund created a 138-slot program for formerly homeless veterans at its Peter Jay Sharp Center for Opportunity in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The program has since helped over 500 Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. [11]

Recently, the center added a photography course to their offerings for veterans. [42] The New York Times reported that the collected works of workshop participants were exhibited at the Soho gallery Arts Connect in New York City in November, 2010. [43] In a growing number of cities, the innovative approaches The Doe Fund pioneered in New York and Philadelphia have become the basis for a variety of partner projects and work-based initiatives. [44]

In Washington, DC, Ready, Willing & Workinghas contracts for its formerly homeless clients to provide cleanup, landscaping, maintenance and recycling services. [45]

In consultation with The Doe Fund, The Cara Program in Chicago created CleanSlate[46] in 2005, a now multimillion dollar operation which provides those afflicted by homelessness and poverty with intensive job-training while they get paid to clean, landscape and remove snow from city streets.

In December of 2010, the Open Door Shelter of Norwalk, CT launched Hope Works[47] for its homeless clients, modeling the program after Ready, Willing & Able.

The program has also been replicated in Atlanta, Ga. and Jersey City, NJ. [11]

As of June 2011, with the $5.6 million grant in June from the U.S. Department of Labor, Ready, Willing & Able has a chance to greatly expand its field of influence. Should the demonstration succeed, The Doe Fund’s model becomes a candidate for nationwide replication.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "The Doe Fund". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  2. ^ [www.doe.org/about/?aboutID=2 "History of the Doe Fund"]. Retrieved 7 December 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  3. ^ Anthony, Attiyya. "Ready, Willing & Able Celebrates 20th Year". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  4. ^ McGowan, Kathleen (February 28, 2000). "How The Doe Rises". City Limits Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  5. ^ a b "About Us: Our History".
  6. ^ "Public Lives; A Blue Jumpsuit and a Path to Self-Sufficiency". New York Times. June 4, 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  7. ^ Miller, Samantha (November 30, 1998). "Task Master". People Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  8. ^ Hevesi, Dennis. "Running Away". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Harriet McDonald speaks at The Doe Fund's 2009 Gala". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  10. ^ "Harriet Karr". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h "About Us: Founders". Retrieved 7 December 2011. Cite error: The named reference "The Doe Fund website" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  12. ^ Adrianne, Adrianne (April 27, 2008). "Gotham Gigs: Helping Hand". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  13. ^ "Together We Are Ready, Willing & Able" (PDF). The Doe Fund. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  14. ^ Golden, Tim (March 12, 1990). "Homeless, They Build for Peers". New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  15. ^ "Annual Report, The Doe Fund, 1990". The Doe Fund. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  16. ^ Fastenberg, Dan (October 4, 2011). "Doe Fund Helps Ex-Cons Join Ranks of the Employed". AOL Jobs. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  17. ^ Toscano, John (April 16, 2008). "Community Clean Up, Jobs Rehab Program Gets $564 G Fed Grant". Western Queens Gazette. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  18. ^ "The Right Way to Handle Former Inmates". New York Times. November 29, 2007.
  19. ^ "Back Office of New York". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  20. ^ "Pest at Rest". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  21. ^ "RWA Resource Recovery". Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  22. ^ "The Doe Fund Announces $5.6 Million Federal Grant". PR Newswire, June 27, 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  23. ^ a b "US Labor Department announces nearly $40 million for Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration programs". United States Department of Labor. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  24. ^ "The Manhattan Institute Social Entrepreneurship Initiative William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship, 2008". The Manhattan Institute. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  25. ^ Delfiner, Rita (October 8, 2004). "In the News: Quiet Heroes Get Their Due". New York Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  26. ^ Delfiner, Rita (October 8, 2004). "In the News: Quiet Heroes Get Their Due". New York Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  27. ^ Stern, Sol (Summer, 1997). "Who Says the Homeless Should Work?". City Journal. Retrieved 7 December 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Vine, Phyliss (January 1, 1997). "A "Cure" for the Homeless". City Limits Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  29. ^ Tierney, John (December 22, 1999). "The Big City; Helping Hand Holds Out A Broom". New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  30. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (April 25, 1993). "N.Y. Hopes to Help Homeless by Reviving Single Room Occupancy Hotels : Poverty: The city legislated to reduce the SROs decades ago. Now, it blames that policy for forcing people to live on the street". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  31. ^ Cutler, Steven. "The Doe Fund — Building Affordable Housing in (and Despite) New York City". ABO Developments Magazine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  32. ^ "Supportive Housing: Peter J. Sharp Residence". The Doe Fund. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  33. ^ Kovaleski, Serge F. (August 6, 2010). "Charity Backing Bloomberg 3rd Term Got Millions". New York Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  34. ^ Topousis, Tom (June 29, 2009). "THE 'DOUGH' FUND". New York Post. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  35. ^ Otten, Laura. "Executive Excess". Nonprofit University Blog. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  36. ^ "Doe Fund Inc". Guidestar. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  37. ^ "New York BBB Wise Giving Report for Doe Fund". Better Business Bureau. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  38. ^ "Welfare-to-Work Grant, The Doe Fund, Inc., September, 2006" (PDF). US Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  39. ^ "http://www.docstoc.com/docs/95649001/Department-of-Labor-Dismisses-Audit-finding-that--The-Doe-Fund-misused-a-portion-of-a-Welfare-to-Work-grant (April 2008)". United States Department of Labor, Office of Administrative Law Judges. Retrieved 7 December 2011. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  40. ^ Moore, Tina (November 5, 2010). "Doe Fund nonprofit head George McDonald pocketed $100,000 prize given to the charity". New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  41. ^ Mone, Lawrence Mone. "Manhattan Institute Clarification Regarding 2008 William E Simon Award to Doe Fund President George McDonald, May 17, 2011". The Manhattan Institute. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  42. ^ Lazarowitz, Elizabeth (December 24, 2010). "Veterans get off the street and into art by finding a home and photography". New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  43. ^ Hoffman, Meredith (November 3, 2011). "Behind Lens, Vets Find Respite From Troubled Pasts". New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  44. ^ Fastenberg, Dan (October 4, 2011). "Doe Fund Helps Ex-Cons Join Ranks Of The Employed". AOL Jobs. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  45. ^ "Ready Willing & Working: A Solution to Ending Homelessness and Criminal Recidivism in D.C." Ready, Willing & Working. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  46. ^ "What We Do: CleanSlate". The Cara Program. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  47. ^ Wright, Chase (December 5, 2010). [Program Gives Homeless Work "Program Gives Homeless Work"]. The Hour. Retrieved 7 December 2011. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
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