Sometimes I wonder how I got here. I spent years in university dreaming of utopian ways to fix real world problems, only to find myself stuck in the machine, realizing the institution was broken and there was little I could do to fix it.
Social service was born from religion. Charity in its origin was an aspect of the church, the outreach of ministry to the underclass. Sometime in the last hundred or so years, the state took to welfare administration. Those drawn to the profession often come from a calling of selfless service, and rightly so. I don’t know of anyone who became a social worker for the cash. Social service is all about people and not about profit. Not. For. Profit. But the hard reality is, we all spend a big portion of our time and energy on trying to find enough money to even exist. And we never have enough. We live off piecemeal handouts from bureaucrats. And as the political pendulum swings, it carries with it a sharp cutting edge that slashes programs before they ever have a chance to create a solid foundation.
Enter the world of business. After I was hit by the proverbial social work burnout, I leaned on my artistic background to pay a few bills. I started making logos and business cards. I spent years working with business start-ups and rural entrepreneurs. I met people with passion and drive and desire, many of whom turned to self-employment as a necessity in an economy that was leaving them hungry. And I learned something. What social service was sorely lacking was business acumen. It was too much Dr. Phil, and not enough Donald Trump. Ok, maybe those are bad examples. But let’s get to the point, if social service had to function like a business in a free market, you can bet things would be done differently. The “vote with your dollar” adage could send a shift into education, health care and numerous other social services that exist in this false economy. Consumers would expect better, and move elsewhere if they didn’t receive it.
So herein lies the catch. How do you measure success in a field where success should mean less customers and not more? If social service providers are successful, they will become unemployed. If there are no broken people to mend, there will be nothing for helpers to do. Clearly I understand that many problems exist generationally, and in association to privilege. However, we must ask if our programs create dependence. In order for social service to strike an independence, from public funds and for the health of community participants, we must look to enterprise as a means of promoting wellness and increasing our consumer base in an ethical way.