Durrrrrrango
Last week, my co-worker Sarah and I spent journeyed down to Durango (which is in the gorgeous SW corner of CO). Our mission on this “business” trip was to talk to as many of the residents at Mercy’s 3 Durango properties to see whta kind of services and programs they would like and aren’t receiving from other organizations and resources in the community. Mercy recently received a grant to hire a Resident Service Coordinator in Durango, and so we were the first step, in this year-long process.
Durango is historically a very wealthy place, and affordable housing is very hard to come by. Without an RSC, Mercy was unable to offer the kinds of programs that empower low-income families to change their situation, either with affordable daycare, GED or ESL classes, or something like a cooking class. After a week there, and over 60 interviews, Sarah and I realized this was going to be a tricky, tricky job. The three properties have very different populations, one is mainly people who mentally and physically differently abled, another one consists of mainly two parent families and elderly individuals, while the last is mainly single moms. Times, interests, accessibility vary greatly.
The cycle of poverty was striking, depressing, and left me unsure of where it all even begins. When you rent- furniture, dishes, houses, cars, there is a constant cycle of money lost and nothing gained. So losing a job means losing most, if not everything. I don’t know. Daycare can cost easily $270/week, so there are moms and dads who don’t work because a min. wage job would pay the same. It was just a lot of listening. We need to begin to bridge the incredibly huge gap between rich and poor, and it needs to happen soon because the polarization will continue and more individuals and families will have to rent their posessions, and be one layoff away… amid all this Durango has restaurants that charge $20 for a burger…. and are doing well.
Happy posts later. I promise.