The people I have met at Focus Hope are pretty cool. Everybody has their own story to tell, and a different reason for deciding to work here. Since Focus Hope has so many programs and so many people on its campus daily, the work culture in one building is completely different from the work culture in the next building. There are even work culture differences in adjacent rooms. For example, the building 1400 Oakman houses a GM factory, conference space, the center for working families, a Michigan State satellite campus, and the office for volunteers. That’s a lot of differences in the same building. Even though there are a lot of differences in the building people come together in the cafeteria, socialize and eat. White collar and blue collar, black and white, student and teacher, and genuinely enjoy each other’s presence.
Even though people do have a lot of differences, there is one thing that binds them together; Money. Almost two years ago all Focus Hope employees where forced to take a significant pay cut, because of the reduced amount of funding the government was providing. This cut affected everyone from the CEO to the phone operators. Although many people understood the logic behind the cut, many people (to this day) continue to stress about when they will begin receiving their full pay again. People are loyal to Focus Hope’s mission and good works, but they also need to be able to sustain themselves and their families.
Employees are not the only ones affected by reduced government spending. Focus Hope’s programs are receiving less money too, and are therefore required to cut back on the services they provide the community. Many of Focus Hope’s training programs are not able to enroll as many people as they did in the past, meaning a lot of people get turned down for vital training that could lift them out minimum wage jobs, and elevated them to a higher economic status. With all this doom and gloom there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Focus Hope has just chosen a new CEO Jason Lee. Jason has a track record for revitalizing community programs and organizations. Hopefully with this new leadership Focus Hope can transition from a organization that is simply trying to hold on to what it currently has, to an organization that expands and can continue to elevate the city of Detroit.
