Tag Archives: nonprofits

Rokita Again…

Among the worst results of the recent election was the local–and sadly predictable–victory of Indiana’s statewide Republican ticket. Mike Braun can be expected to obediently follow the Trumpist/MAGA line. Micah Beckwith and Jim Banks are self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist and an embarrassment to the state (and, actually, to intelligent humans pretty much everywhere.) But Todd Rokita may actually be the worst choice Hoosiers made, if only because he was running for re-election after a term in which he displayed what he is for all to see–an unethical publicity hound consistently pandering to the very worst of the MAGA base.

And he is at it again–(mis)using the resources of his office to pursue ideological, rather than legal, ends. This time, it’s an effort to intimidate Indiana organizations that serve immigrant populations.

One of those organizations is Su Casa, a nonprofit organization that was issued a civil investigative demand by the office of the Indiana Attorney General. The purported reason was an inquiry into human trafficking. Su Casa–along with many other entities in Indiana that serve immigrant communities– are being “questioned” by the AG’s office, probing how they serve migrant communities.

Su Casa was founded in 1999 as a response to the increase of Latin American immigrants arriving in Columbus, Indiana.  The majority of them had limited English proficiency, and Su Casa provided assistance and removed barriers to essential services in that community. It’s mission is to “increase self-sufficiency, health, economic independence, education, and ensure Latino families feel safe and belong here.” Its website says “Su Casa believes that all residents should have equitable access to the tools and support needed to be successful regardless of socio-economic or immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, or beliefs.”

MAGA cultists like Rokita consider such beliefs unacceptably “woke.”

When I did some research, I discovered that the Attorney General has initiated investigations into several organizations– including nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses– that work to facilitate what the cult deplores as an  “influx of migrants into Indiana communities.” These investigations purport to be about labor trafficking and “the strain on local resources due to increased migrant populations.”

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Meanwhile…

One of Stephen Colbert’s recurring “shticks” on the Late Show is a bit he calls “Meanwhile.”  He begins by explaining that X is happening, but meanwhile…there’s Y and Z, factoids that are hardly earth-shattering, but intriguing (and usually very funny).

A lot of us–especially those who participate in discussions here–obsessively follow government and politics, and are currently mourning America’s suicidal plunge back into the unresolved hatreds and fantasies of the past.  I’m certainly not going to advise “checking out”–although many of us are currently taking a vacation from the avalanche of depressing news–but I am going to counsel a detour into “meanwhile.”

Did far too many Americans vote affirmatively for ugly and hateful? Did too many consider the explicit threats to “others”–people with identities different from their own–irrelevant? Did far too many Americans ignore their most basic civic responsibility, which was to cast an informed ballot? Are we currently being inundated with after-the-fact “analyses” by self-important and un-self-aware pundits convinced that if Democrats had just done it their way, the result would be different?

Yes, yes and yes. All of it.

But meanwhile, in hundreds of communities, good people are continuing to do good things. Friends are volunteering at homeless shelters. Congregations that take seriously the moral teachings of their churches, synagogues and mosques are sponsoring food banks and offering sanctuary. Professional organizations are continuing to provide legal and medical assistance to folks in poor communities. The list goes on, and these efforts will be even more important as the assault on various types of federal assistance takes hold.

There are literally millions of efforts constantly underway to lend assistance to one group or another, or to bring a bit of joy to people who have less, or who who face adversity of one sort or another.

One example: on my desk at this moment is a flyer given to me by a friend who is (over)involved in such efforts, who has asked me to assist his nonprofit by helping sell tickets to “A Broadway Christmas,” featuring Anthony Nunziata. (Nunziata is described on the flyer as “A Carnegie Hall Headliner dubbed America’s New Singing Sensation.”) According to. my friend, Nunziata is donating his performance, because the entire event is intended to support an organization called “Kids Dance Outreach.” It’s a nonprofit that serves disabled children, ages 2-14, in school and after-school dance programs.

The organization’s webpage describes its mission as “To positively impact the lives of all children through joyful dance programs that inspire excellence, instill confidence, encourage teamwork, and applaud persistence.” It also says its free programs have served over twenty-two thousand children thus far.

With a commitment to providing high-quality dance education to all children, all KDO programs are inclusive for children with physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities. The Dancers with Disabilities Programs offer further opportunities specifically designed for children with disabilities to learn and grow in a safe and joyful environment.

(The program my friend is promoting will be held at 7:00 pm at Broadway United Methodist Church on December 14th. Anyone in Indianapolis interested in attending can purchase tickets on the website.)

Efforts like this one may seem irrelevant–or at least, small potatoes– to those of us consumed with worry over Trump’s ability to deliver imminent, widespread harm . Dancing children? Fiddling while Rome burns, thanks to our own American Nero? But efforts like this one–and there are literally millions of similar, seemingly irrelevant programs across this country–programs that testify to the presence of millions of good people working with others to brighten the lives of those who are less fortunate or who face challenges the rest of us have been spared.

There’s a recent cartoon (I think from the New Yorker) that struck me. I’m paraphrasing, but in the single panel, one woman is telling another that–upon consideration following the election– her mistake was believing in the goodness of a majority of Americans. It’s tempting to take that lesson from the undeniable fact that millions of Americans cast votes for a vicious, mentally-ill criminal with a clearly-articulated desire to destroy America’s constitutional democracy.

But that would be the wrong lesson.

Yes, a sizable portion–probably a majority– of Trump’s vote came from the out-and-out bigots: racists, anti-Semites and misogynists he intentionally courted. But many others voted from ignorance fostered by dependence on right-wing propaganda. And all of those votes together did not reach 50% of the total cast.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans were volunteering or otherwise supporting the multitude of not-for-profit and voluntary organizations which exist only to help others. True, it isn’t enough. We have significant systemic issues we need to resolve.

But at times like these, it’s worth remembering.

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OMG –Respecting Evidence!

There’s the way things are supposed to work, and then there’s the way stuff actually works.

At my age, you sort of get resigned to the general cussedness of the real world….People mean well, but gee–so if an organization has a theory that didn’t exactly work out, it’s pretty incentivized to put a positive spin on it.

That being a fairly typical reaction to products or programs that didn’t do what their creators had hoped they would do, I was stunned–and excited–to read a Vox article about a nonprofit that just came out and said “Well, I guess we were wrong.”

Last week, a major international development charity did something remarkable: It admitted that one of its programs didn’t seem to work.

No Lean Season is an innovative program that was created to help poor families in rural Bangladesh during the period between planting and harvesting (typically September to November). During that period, there are no jobs and no income, and families go hungry. By some estimates, at least 300 millionof the rural poor may be affected by seasonal poverty.

No Lean Season aimed to solve that by giving small subsidies to workers so they could migrate to urban areas, where there are job opportunities, for the months before the harvest. In small trials, it worked great. A $20 subsidy was enough to convince people to take the leap. They found jobs in the city, sent money home, returned for the harvest season, and made the trip again in subsequent years, even without another subsidy.

So Evidence Action, the nonprofit that funded the pilot programs of No Lean Season, invested big in scaling it up. In 2016, it had run the program in 82 villages; in 2017, it offered it in 699. No Lean Season made GiveWell’s list of top charities.

Evidence Action wanted more data to assess the program’s effectiveness, so it participated in a rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT) — the gold standardfor effectiveness research for interventions like these — of the program’s benefits at scale.

Last week, the results from the study finally came in — and they were disappointing. In a blog post, Evidence Action wrote: “An RCT-at-scale found that the [No Lean Season] program did not have the desired impact on inducing migration, and consequently did not increase income or consumption.”

Why was this admission such a big deal? As the Vox article notes, it is exceptionally rare for a charity to agree to participate in a research project, to discover that its program as implemented doesn’t work, and then to actually publicize those results in a major announcement to donors.

It would have been easy, on multiple levels, for Evidence Action to do otherwise. It could have ignored or contested the results of the RCT; the research would still be published, but it would attract a lot less attention and publicity. Or it could have dismissed the failure as unrepresentative — there were unusual floods in Bangladesh in 2017, it could argue, which might have caused the program failures. Or it could have put a more positive spin on the results. After all, while the RCT was discouraging, it wasn’t devastating — there was, in fact, a small increase in migration.

Evidence Actiondid the opposite. “Consistent with our organizational values, we are putting ‘evidence first,’ and using the 2017 results to make significant program improvements and pivots,” the group wrote. “We are continuing to rigorously test to see if program improvements have generated the desired impacts, with results emerging in 2019. We have agreed with GiveWell that No Lean Season should not be a top charity in 2018. Until we assess these results, we will not be seeking additional funding for No Lean Season.”

Honesty. Respect for evidence. Respect for one’s donors.

This, of course, is the way things are supposed to work. This is why intellectually honest research is so important–to gather and consider evidence, and use that evidence to shape further efforts. To learn from reality, and to apply what has been learned in order to inform what we do going forward.

Empirical research. Honest evaluation of the results. Learning from our mistakes.

What a concept…..

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The Younger Generation

Last night, I attended a community forum sponsored by SPEA students of John Clark. John is well-known in Indianapolis–he has long been active as a public intellectual and sponsor of the website Provocate. His enthusiasm for global-local connections has clearly motivated his students.

The subject of discussion was: can Indianapolis become a “humanitarian hub”? The venue was the Athenaeum, and the room was filled with an interesting mix of Indianapolis’ residents. There were old folks like me (and a couple even older!), but mostly, attendees were in their twenties and thirties–and it soon became obvious that most of them were already deeply involved in humanitarian and nonprofit enterprises. Worried about Haiti? The experience of immigrants in Indiana? Efforts to integrate minorities into the broader community? Fair trade? These young people are working on all of these issues, and many others, with passion and realism.

The students who convened the forum asked participants to consider who should be involved in an effort to make our city an international humanitarian “hub,” and what benefits might accrue to the city from such an effort. The clear consensus was that creating such a hub should not mean trying to lure the headquarters of large humanitarian organizations–that instead it should be accomplished, if possible, by encouraging and facilitating the efforts that are already percolating among our young social entrepreneurs, and working with organizations like Kiwanis, the National Guard and many others who are already engaged in these efforts.

There was also a consensus that creating such a hub would make Indianapolis a more inclusive, welcoming city–a city that people would want to live and work in. (Others noted that changes in the Indiana legislature will be needed in order to create an “inclusive” culture. Immigrant-bashing and anti-gay measures aren’t exactly helping.)

I left the meeting feeling the way I often do after a discussion with students in my class–hopeful that the next generation will be able to clear away some of the social debris my own generation is leaving them. Americans talk a lot about values–the young people with whom I interact demonstrate the values important to a just society–compassion, personal responsibility, a recognition of what we might call social duty. They are both idealistic and realistic, and that is so encouraging at a a time when major party Presidential candidates are neither.

The class will hold its next community forum at the Lilly Auditorium in IUPUI’s Library from 7-9 on November 29th. The topic: distrust in government. (Full disclosure: I’ll be on one of the panels.)

If you are interested in learning more about these efforts, and the literally hundreds of humanitarian programs and organizations that already exist, check www.globalindy.org.  

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