No matter what you hear, nobody’s gotten to where they are totally on their own.
That’s what Cape Ann nonprofit leaders said during a panel discussion held Friday on the state of local social justice work following the COVID-19 pandemic. and it’s why their nonprofits are so important, they added.
“Even being able to get to work, you didn’t do that alone,” said Jill Brown, a SNAP advocate for The Open Door and panelist at the event. “You did that because there’s an infrastructure in place, which happened because of a whole bunch of people working together.”
Held at the Backyard Growers headquarters off Maplewood Avenue, the panel was largely attended by students of moderator Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, a Suffolk University professor and Gloucester resident.
It’s been an uphill battle to help locals in need since the start of the pandemic, panelists said. Prior to 2020, 44% of Gloucester residents were low-income and 66% were cost-burdened, meaning more than 30% of their income goes toward housing, Brown said.
“Things before the pandemic were not good, and a lot of people who were teetering on the edge just got pushed off it,” said panelist Leah Briere, a client services coordinator for The Open Door.
“People were not affected equally,” she said. “Those who were already experiencing inequalities, that got even worse.”
Poverty disproportionately affected people of color during the pandemic, and more than half a million women left the workforce at the time, mostly to care for children during online schooling and missing out on career advancement as a result. Children in poverty experienced higher learning losses than their more well-to-do classmates, Briere said.
Creating food pathways
The Open Door reported a dramatic increase in its number of clients during the pandemic. Requests for help are still far from pre-pandemic levels, but there’s more opportunities for those in need, Brown said.
The Open Door started an online grocery ordering system during the pandemic that allows clients to choose what food they want from the organization, instead of receiving pre-packed bags that might include food they don’t like or can’t eat.
There’s a new translating service that connects clients with someone who speaks their language when placing an order or requesting other types of assistance from The Open Door, rather than relying on Google Translate as the nonprofit did in the past, Briere said.
Backyard Growers is starting a farmers market at Burnham’s Field this year that’s focused on providing healthy, affordable food from local farmers. The new spot is easier to walk to for many of the area’s low-income residents, and the market will accept SNAP benefits, said Alison DiFiore, executive director of the organization.
Valuing skillsets
Nonprofits have placed a larger emphasis on fostering equity since the pandemic. But creating equity doesn’t just mean promoting diversity, said Andy Allen, director of education and career pathways for Wellspring House in Gloucester.
Equity is about valuing the skillsets of those with different backgrounds — including immigrants who are learning English, a fair share of Wellspring’s clients who take part in its housing, education and job training assistance programs.
These clients often feel ashamed of their budding English skills even when they have degrees or worked as lawyers, doctors, engineers or in other high-paying careers back in their old countries.
“I turn it and say, ‘You know more than one language already. You’re a valuable entity — your qualities are far beyond mine’,” Allen said.
“You can get a much better job. Yeah, you need to have some English to help you get there, but as soon as (employers) find out that you know eight languages or three, you might be making $50 an hour,” he said.
Being the change
The last few years have been overwhelming for the nonprofit sector, even in Gloucester. Yet, as Allen said during the panel, “If you want to make a change, you have to be the one to make change, and you can’t do it by yourself. You need a group of people to stand up.”
That’s what Susan Erony did when Seham Awad and her family, all Syrian refugees, arrived in Gloucester in 2016. Having fled dictator Hafez al-Assad’s regime prior to staying in overcrowded refugee camps in Turkey, the Awads came to America with next to nothing.
Erony brought together her friends and other Gloucester residents to raise $35,000 for the Awads and a family of Afghani refugees at the time. The effort turned into The Friends of Cape Ann Refugees, and “friends” is the best way to describe what the unofficial group has become.
Members celebrate birthdays together and bond over Seham Awad’s delicious cooking, which she’s taught to local schoolchildren through the group. Madmoni-Gerber acts as a translator, speaking both Arabic and English.
“She loves all the people that helped her along the way,” Madmoni-Gerber said Friday, translating for Awad. “This is beyond an organization. We really love each other and it’s just a wonderful friendship.”
Contact Caroline E nos at CEnos@northofboston.com.