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Guest Opinion
‘Free at Last’ survival struggle blends dedication with new hope by Jay Thorwaldson inancially strapped Free at Last, the nonprofit organization that serves scores of persons teetering on the brink of their futures in the Midpeninsula, has been surviving on a smaller staff and the dedication of paid and volunteer staff members. Beyond the east-of-Bayshore communities it primarily serves, the organization is best known as being co-founded 17-years ago by David Lewis, who was fatally shot June 9 last year at Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo following a confrontation with a man he’d known many years. Lewis received the California Peace Prize in 1995 for his work, and a documentary film project was launched after his death (www.paloaltoonline.com/news/ show_story.php?id=17926). But within the communities it serves Free at Last is known as a refuge and pathway back for persons who are addicted to drugs and alcohol, so they can go on to lead sober and crime-free lives, a major step for those returning from jail or prison. “We have no money,” co-founder and board Chair Vicki Smothers said when summing up the situation this week, following one report that the organization was about to go out of business entirely. Not so, or at least not yet. The hope — Smothers said in an interview during a break from her day job doing
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mental-health outreach for San Mateo County — emerged in a meeting in July with officials from the Haas Center at Stanford University and Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson of San Mateo County, a former East Palo Alto City Council member. With assistance from the Haas Center, Free at Last on Aug. 1 began an intensive search for a new executive director to replace interim CEO Gerardo Barragan and made a number of urgent steps to stay afloat and stabilize its finances. The primary qualification for a new director, in addition to core management abilities and community engagement, is a successful background in fund development and grantwriting, Smothers said. Applications have already started coming in, including a couple of technically qualified individuals from out of state but who lack knowledge of or connections within the communities. Interviews start next week. “Right now we’re just really hopeful we find the right person,” Smothers said. Even under Lewis, writing grants was not a strength of the organization. His natural dedication and charisma helped in tight corners, along with an inner determination that led him back personally from addictions, crime and prison into becoming a nationally known figure. He was adept at finding pockets of unspent county money and applying it to the needs of those the organization served. Details of the crisis were outlined in a news story last April on Palo Alto Online, the Weekly’s community website (www.paloaltoonline. com/news/show_story.php?id=20927). A major meeting of the board of directors was held in June, at which time the question
came up about why former sources of funding stopped supporting the program. It became clear that “our funders never left us — we stopped writing grants,” Smothers said. “We didn’t have anyone to write grants who was knowledgeable about that.” In that sense, Free at Last “has been treading water for the past 10 years,” since the departure of earlier executive director Priya Haji in 2002. Other survival steps include: s 4HE PAID STAFF HAS BEEN CUT FROM TO ABOUT 16, and remaining staff have increased their workloads, in addition to work by “what we call our ‘unpaid volunteers,’” Smothers said. s ! hSUSTAINABILITY PLANv HAS BEEN PREPARED for presentation in mid-September to San Mateo County, a major supporter of the organization for years through contracts for services. “We need to explain to them how we’re going to stay alive,” Smothers said, adding that she doesn’t expect new county money. Last year THE COUNTY PROVIDED ABOUT IN CONtracted services, but the group’s overall budget (before cutbacks) was about $1 million. s 4HE CHURCH THAT OWNS THE &REE AT ,AST complex at 1796 Bay Road in East Palo Alto waived rent for two months prior to Aug. 1, but has had to resume charging rent, including a prior-contractual 10 percent boost. s &REE AT ,AST IS SUB RENTING SOME SPACE TO the Ravenswood Clinic on a temporary basis. Earlier, the program began charging fees for some programs, but the economic recession sharply reduced income from that source last year. Smothers refers repeatedly to the dedication and unpaid time staff members provide, including weekend duties. “The dedication of people is beyond words,”
she said. “You can’t pay people enough for this kind of work,” and the pay was low to start with. But the continuing crisis and uncertainty has taken a toll on staff morale, which Smothers acknowledged is “very, very low.” There was a real boost in January 2011, when Free at Last celebrated its 17th anniversary. The event drew city officials from East Palo Alto and neighboring communities, as well as longtime friends and supporters. It was a combination memorial to Lewis and a celebration of the success of existing and past clients. The various programs operated by the organization presently serve 18 men with interim housing, counseling and support groups, plus 10 women, two with children. There are 25 to INDIVIDUALS IN VARIOUS OUTPATIENT SUPPORT programs, in addition to up to 100 persons on some days who just drop in for a cup of coffee and a sense of refuge from the world and, perhaps, themselves. The needs of individuals vary widely, and some simply come to the drop-in center. “Eventually we know they’ll catch on,” Smothers said. “One woman has been coming in since 1996, and the other day she got clean,” she added as an illustration of the importance of continuing presence in the community. Hope keeps the program going. “It’s like holding our breath until it happens,” Smothers said of the dream of financial stability. Despite low morale, staff dedication means “people will be there until we close — but I don’t believe we’re going to close.” N Former Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson can be emailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly. com or jaythor@well.com.
Streetwise
How did 9/11 impact your outlook on life? Asked on California Avenue, Palo Alto. Interviews and photographs by Jeff Carr.
Mel Jose
Marketer Ben Lomond Drive, Palo Alto “My daughter was born two days later, and it made me think more about looking out for her and my family, being more selfless, worrying less about the little things.”
Max Sanford
Real Estate Analyst Folsom Street, San Francisco “It made me more thankful.”
Gretchen Zaballos
Retiree Country Lane, Pleasanton “I felt since then that we’ve had a loss of freedoms, with the airport screenings and everything. We’ve had a loss of confidence in international commerce. Travel has been much more of a hassle for me.”
Frank Burns
Retiree El Camino Way, Palo Alto “I’m a New Yorker. I was in New York City on 9/11, and I can tell you the world is a different place now. We have a military spending enormous sums of money in equipment, but no one to fight with. With all of our economic problems, it’s not appropriate.”
Jillian Mallis
Graduate Student Bowdoin Street, Stanford “For an 11-year-old New Yorker, it affected me because I became more aware of bad people, of evil in the world.”
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