This is in response to “Reform measures should not weaken our health care” (Commentary, June 15), by Dr. Donald J. Palmisano, spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Patients Rights and former president of the American Medical Association (2003-2004). His piece seems to reflect the vested interests of the medical profession. When he outlines the amazing technological advances of the current American medical health system, he fails to mention the enormous expense associated with such innovation.
Yes, we would all like to be able to afford every possible medical treatment available to the human species from the moment we leave the womb until our last days on this planet. Unfortunately that is simply not practical in light of today’s economic and social realities.
No one wants to see rationed health care institutionalized in our country, but by having tens of millions of citizens who cannot afford health care, that is exactly what we are currently proffering.
Palmisano’s analysis of financial and actuarial information utilized in the United Kingdom by the British Medical Association is a red herring excusing his support of tired old arguments on cost-containment. Tax credits, consumer choice and the always ambiguous “market-enhancement” argument reflect an approach that is commonplace among those with full bellies, adequate income and platinum insurance coverage.
What good is a tax credit if one does not have a job with an income? Emphasizing that the patients will lose control over their own health care is an out-of-touch perspective that only someone without health insurance at all might truly understand.
I would suggest the real solution to this nation’s health care would come when every member of Congress, the federal judicial system and the executive branch of government is told that he or she will lose his or her health-care coverage by the end of this calendar year if a fair, impartial solution is not found.
The once venerable Chicago Christian Industrial League, which has provided shelter and job training to Chicago’s homeless for 100 years, has reportedly been saved from financial ruin by a plan to merge with A Safe Haven, a for-profit drug rehab company.
• • ”We’ll be around for at least another 100 years,” said Rick Roberts, new strategy director of the League, which once employed former first lady Patti Blagojevich — which thrust a more public focus on its dire financial straits.”
Christian Industrial League gets back to its religious roots
Christian Industrial League to renew church ties after years of relying on city funds to help needy
By Manya A. Brachear |Tribune reporter
June 3, 2009
In business for a century to serve the city’s poor, the Chicago Christian Industrial League in recent months found itself entangled in politics and struggling to stay afloat.
In January, the league fired its chief fundraiser, Patti Blagojevich, wife of indicted formerGov. Rod Blagojevich. A month later, Mayor Richard Daley tapped former executive director Rick Roberts to resuscitate the organization. Now, the league’s new leaders say they must balance the reality of politics with ideals of the gospel and harness the power of both.
“We won’t survive if we don’t get back to our roots,” said Roberts, who is the league’s senior director of strategy. “I think this social ministry grew because it knew what it was and why it was. When any organization forgets what it is and why it is, it’s going to fail.”
Roberts, a playwright and documentarian, was the organization’s executive director from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, but he encountered the ministry of the Christian Industrial League much earlier in his life. He can point to the bench in what is now Millennium Park where his father slept when he was not at one of the shelters for the homeless in the city. His father’s indigence inspired Roberts’ most notable play, “Benchmark.”
That proximity to poverty inspired Roberts to volunteer at the league and eventually become its leader in 1988. At the time, it was the largest homeless shelter in Illinois, and Roberts was the first chief who was not an ordained minister.
He also was the first to introduce public money to the agency’s coffers. In November 1989, Daley partnered with the league to relocate to its residential job-training program hundreds of homeless residents fromO’Hare International Airport. The city provided about $300,000, which allowed residents to live and eat free while getting back on their feet.
Income also came from congregations who pledged support for the league’s mission. By the time Roberts left in 1994, the league had quadrupled its staff and boasted a multimillion-dollar budget, less than half of which came from public entities, Roberts said.
Since then, the league has come to rely less on private donations and more on city contracts. The most notable of those was the league’s agreement to provide landscaping services along 22 miles of city street medians.
While city contracts have multiplied, commitments from congregations have shriveled, a hole the league dug for itself by turning its back on the religious community that helped build it, Roberts said.
In 2006, the league sold its property in the Greektown neighborhood for $5.9 million and bought a parcel in the North Lawndale neighborhood from the city for $1. Redevelopment funds and proceeds from the land sale helped pay for a new facility, but private funding did not meet expectations, saddling the league with about $13 million in debt.
“We’ve gotten a lot of support from the city. You can’t overstate it,” said Jim Foorman, chairman of the league’s board. But he added most of the focus was on daily operations.
“The relationships we’ve had with religious communities have not been properly tended,” Foorman said.
Founded by Presbyterian minister Rev. George Kilbey, the Christian Industrial League sprang from the 20th Century Social Gospel Movement that blamed industrialization for the rise of slums and poverty in urban areas. In 1933, Christian donors bailed the league out of debt, forging an alliance that kept the agency strong for several more decades.
Even then, the spiritual component of the league’s ministry was never heavy-handed, Roberts said. He said he wants to keep it that way. Unlike other homeless ministries in the city that require worship upon entry, Christian Industrial League prayer services are available but not mandatory.
Laura Shanklin, the agency’s assistant assets manager, said those prayer services subsided a few years ago as the agency depended more on public money and became nervous about violating separation of church and state. She considers that one of the league’s biggest mistakes.
“It’s God’s work,” Shanklin said. “It’s bigger than you or I.”
Roberts said he is determined to revive that spiritual component — but in a broader sense. To remind people of the agency’s roots, he has installed a cross in the assembly hall where two pastors offer Christian worship services on the weekends. A partnership with a rabbi has led to plans for a Passoverseder next year. Because a number of residents are ex-offenders who converted to Islam in prison, he hopes to invite imams for prayer.
Lydia Rodriguez, 18, helped Roberts hang the crosses. Referred by Lawndale Community Church, she credits faith for leading her family to the league to get back on their feet.
“This is a really good place,” she said.
Katie Brandt, 21, discovered the league after her mother gave her the boot and the father of her 3-year-old child met success there. The word “Christian” in the title didn’t sway her decision.
“I knew they provided church services,” said Brandt who does landscaping for the league, “but I didn’t look at the place any different.”
That’s how Roberts wants people to view it. He is opposed to taking a more evangelical approach.
“It’s not my job to tell you how to save your soul but to bring in a variety of clergy persons to discuss how people can do their own soul-searching,” Roberts said.
He also hopes to step back into pulpits and share the story of the league with people in the pews.
Roberts insists that political alliances are important too. He said the mayor cares because “The social ministry is putting homeless men and women to work,” and it’s “productive for the common good.” He acknowledges, though, that the mayor has a stake in the league’s survival.
When the mayor defends the city’s environmental credentials, he often points to the rooftop gardens, tulips and trees planted by crews trained by the league.
“He wants us to succeed,” Roberts said. But the league is feeling the loss of a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which it is trying to regain. Appealing to government officials is one way to steer attention and public money back to the league, Roberts said.
Foorman agreed. The league can’t eschew politics, he said, but it can’t forget its religious roots. “A few passages from the Sermon on the Mount are all you need,” Foorman said. “We need to remember the heritage in some fashion. We have ideals but have to be realists.”
Public Service Advertising campaigns have been successful in periods of both calm and turmoil for many years. No other groups rival in power and resources the forces of advertising and media to affect actions against social ills. Check out this info:
“Benchmark data from six typical PSA campaigns also show that an average TV campaign will receive 12,466 airplays on 274 stations and will generate in excess of $2 million worth of exposure. Radio and print will add another million for a total of $3.1 million. When compared to your production costs, this is an excellent return on investment.
However, these results can only be achieved if you do everything right. Media outlets are unquestionably becoming more demanding about the types of PSAs they use, and you need to have a solid plan to get your issue on the air or in print.”
Source: Bill Goodwill, CEO of Goodwill Communications
PSAs can make a difference. Now you have to decide if you want to make a difference too. Horizons knows how to make a PSA and how to make it fit your budget, and we have unrivalled media contacts. Get your cause out there and make a difference.
Here is the second installment of why PSAs are the most effective way for a non-profit to raise money, awareness, and volunteers. This week we are going to talk about the value of making a TV PSA.
1) Deregulation:
Ever since the TV industry was deregulated in the 1980s the boundaries for Public Service Announcements keep expanding. No longer must PSAs be only about health and safety. Today PSAs cover a broad range of useful information topics. In many ways, public service has become public information.
2) Influence of cable stations:
The spread of cable stations means that standard commercial TV stations are faced with more unsold time periods than previously. These open spots must be filled with something, and Public Service Announcements are a handy choice. With the digital TV transition in 2009, broadcasters will have almost triple the programming space available on the same bandwidth. PSAs will almost certainly fill more of this programming space.
3) Nielsen Sigma electronic tracking:
Sigma tracking reveals the exact time of day of Public Service Announcement broadcasts. Telecasts occur throughout the broadcast day. Late night broadcasts actually only make up about 40% – and even those PSAs are reaching several thousand viewers.
4) Calls to Action:
A website address or a phone number at the end of a PSA can generate a direct response, as can a memorable call to action. New developments in interactive TV will make viewer donations a matter of just clicking a button.
There is no denying that PSAs are essential to making your non-profit a success. So what are you waiting for? Contact us and we can start the ball rolling to get your nonprofit to the forefront.
This may sound like an April Fools’ Day joke but research conducted by the National Cancer Institute found that PSAs are more effective than other communications techniques such as pamphlets, POP displays, editorial articles, etc. Their TV PSAs generated over 55,000 calls to their toll-free hotline, twice as many as all other outreach efforts combined.
It is a myth that PSAs have to cost huge sums of money, PSAs can be big budget extravaganzas, or they can consist of live announcer copy printed on the reverse of a postcard and sent to radio stations for minimal cost. Along with our guaranteed distribution Horizons offers a number of services that can fit any budgets.We want to work with you to get your cause known, to help raise funding, and get you the volunteers you need!
And because it’s April Fools’ Day here are three mock PSAs. I found on youtube. Maybe they’ll inspire you to get your cause the attention and recognition it deserves.
A Safe Haven (ASH) has posted their video from the parade on youtube.
Rick, Neil, and Brian had a great time celebrating and promoting A Safe Haven and C.C.I.L. As always the parade was a ton of fun. Thousands came out this year to see the Chicago River dyed green! Hope everyone has a fun and safe St. Patty’s Day.
On February 1st, Rick Roberts began a consulting agreement with the Chicago Christian Industrial League (CCIL). At the time, the venerable non-profit – which celebrates its centenary this year – was undergoing sever financial issues and was embroiled in some negative media controversy. At the request of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Rick’s involvement as Senior Director of Strategy and Communications has been focused on helping the board and senior staff get CCIL back on its feet and working efficiently to serve its clients. So far, Rick has been a process of raising a positive media profile for the organization, seeking new board members and leadership, and implementing a series of extensive program reviews. There is still work to be done, but it is clear that CCIL has begun to turn the corner and is already moving in the right direction.
As a first step in celebrating the centenary, Rick has been instrumental in having CCIL represented in Saturday’s famous Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade. This is only the second parade appearance in the organization’s history, and they will be right up at the front in position #11. Rick will be there, along with CCIL board member (and formerly homeless client of CCIL), 16th Ward Alderman JoAnn Thompson, new CCIL interim Executive Director Ron Archie, CCIL Communications Manager Jenny Brandhorst and CCIL board member Kathy Fink. The float is being sponsored by our good friends Neli and Brian Rowland of A Safe Haven, and the entire group will be promoting a message of responsible celebration amid a festival normally known for over-indulgence!
Horizons Communications Group’s Executive Producer Rick Roberts will be awarded with the American Theater Company’s 2009 American Dream Award at their annual gala on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at the Germania Club in Chicago.
The award will be given in recognition of Rick Roberts’ work in community outreach on behalf of nonprofits and for the successful production of The BenchMark play as a fundraiser for The Chicago Temple and Sacred Space International in the winter of 2008. In announcing the award, representatives from the American Theater Company stated: “Your accomplishments, perseverance and style are very aligned with our theater and mission.” American Theater Company produces new works, classics, and collaborative efforts that examine the question “What does it mean to be an American?” In addition to their six-show season, the nonprofit company also has several powerful outreach programs in the local community.
Rick is honored to be receiving the award from such a worthy organization, and for a project that is so important to both himself and Horizons.
Click here for more details on the gala, which will be Emceed by broadcasting legend and friend of Horizons, Bill Kurtis.
Some of you might have read or seen news reports last week regarding the financial and programmatic crisis the Chicago Christian Industrial League (CCIL) is facing. The Mayor, who has been strongly supportive of this venerable institution, suggested that the ship could be steadied through the involvement of CCIL’s former Executive Director and Horizons Communications Group founder, Rick Roberts.
Though Rick is passionate about the social welfare issues that CCIL represents and is willing to do whatever he can to assist an organization that in a large part was a factor in his writing and producing of The BenchMark, any specific speculation regarding Rick’s involvement is premature at the point.
Horizons will continue to address vital social issues in 2009, with Rick adapting his own theatrical script for The BenchMark into a screenplay to be produced later this year, and maintaining our consulting relationship with Sacred Space International. Our long-awaited short documentary on the Rotary Club of Chicago (“Rotary One”), the founding club of the Rotary International service organization, is also near to completion. We anticipate that we will be screening the film in public within the next month in advance of anticipated airings on Chicago PBS. Stay tuned…
Rick Roberts
timhorsburgh
internkatie22