United Way's unkindest cut
The staff at Deaf Inc., a social service agency based in Allston-Brighton, got a letter recently, an appeal to participate in the annual fund-raising campaign of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.
It was an ironic moment. Deaf Inc. enjoyed a good relationship with the United Way until recently. But that was before Deaf Inc. was cut off from United Way funding, after a management decision by United Way that its work no longer fit into the charity's priorities.
This is what Deaf Inc. does: It helps people who can't hear manage their lives and live independently and with dignity, a service the United Way apparently finds superfluous.
Funding ended earlier this year. The cut amounted to about $68,000, or 7 percent of Deaf Inc.'s annual budget. That was a drop in a huge bucket: The United Way awarded $36.5 million this fiscal year, according to its spokesman.
''The United Way is supposed to be a safety net for people who have nowhere else to turn," said Karen Schwartzman, vice president of Deaf Inc.'s board. ''If that doesn't describe our clients, I don't know what does."
At the center, counselors and interpreters help deaf people learn how to cope with their disabilities. That might include help with shopping or providing transportation or finding housing or giving parenting help to clients who can't hear their babies cry. Its programs include an adult education program, a literacy program that teaches parents how to read to their deaf children, and a program for people with HIV.
Speaking through a sign language interpreter, Sharon Applegate, Deaf Inc.'s executive director, described the agency's clientele. ''Many of our customers are immigrants, so when they come here they don't speak English, and they don't know American Sign Language," she said.
When Applegate arrived at the agency two years ago, the United Way was already considering pulling its funding. It has been an especially hard blow, she said, because the United Way grant wasn't tied to any particular program, meaning that it could be used wherever it was needed. Losing that money has meant that technology that would help clients couldn't be upgraded, that staff members couldn't get raises. It has meant having part-time interpreters in an office that relies on them all the time.
So why did the United Way decide to end such a small commitment?
Three years ago, the agency decided it needed to spend its money more strategically. It established four priorities: child development, youth opportunities, sustainable employment, and affordable housing. Agencies whose services didn't fit into one of those four categories would no longer make the cut. The United Way informed eight agencies that they would be ''transitioned," management-speak meaning that after one more year they wouldn't get any more money.
''They didn't fit into what we were trying to accomplish in those four areas," United Way spokesman Jeff Bellows said yesterday. ''It was because of fit, not performance. They just didn't fit into what we were trying to achieve."
It seems odd to me that only eight of the 140 agencies receiving funding didn't fit. That's a very specific restructuring.
The cut meant that Deaf Inc. had to raise money. So far the results have been mixed. The majority of its board members are deaf, like its staff. Communicating through sign language tends to hamper cocktail-party networking.
''Deaf people are generally isolated from the mainstream of the business community and from power brokers," Schwartzman said. ''These are not people hobnobbing with
United Way donors can still contribute to Deaf Inc., even though the organization doesn't. United Way donors can designate that their payroll deduction go to Deaf Inc.
They would be showing better judgment than the people who decided that helping the deaf no longer fits into their mission.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com. 