Miami Mirror – True Reflections 

SOUTH FLORIDA WORKFORCE

Republication of 2005 Guerilla Journalist Notes

SOUTH BEACH ONE-STOP CENTER IGNORES DISPLACED CITIZENS

Or provides them with misinformation

Filed June 29, 2005

By David Arthur Walters
The Miami Mirror

Miami Beach, Florida

I observed Ben, who identified himself as Senior Job Placement Specialist at the South Beach
One-Stop center, interviewing a man whom I recognized from the street: he was a recovering
alcoholic. The man soon walked away with a disappointed expression. I approached Ben and
inquired about services available to displaced persons i.e. the homeless. I described a displaced
man who asked me for money on Alton Road the previous day; to wit:

The displaced man was handsome although grubby; a Caucasian; Thirty-Something - the ideal
American age. He was carrying a large clear plastic envelope containing his resume and
photographs of himself as a head cook or chef at a previous job. He was very proud of the photo.
He said he had lost his job and had run out of money while looking for another one. He had no
place to keep his clothes, and wound up with what he had on his back, ruined from sleeping in
alleys and under a pier. He did not have an address or a telephone number where employers
could contact him.

The poor man did not know where to apply for a food stamp card and small cash allowance, so I
gave him that information, saying he should not be too proud to accept assistance from the state
as that would be better than stealing or robbing; after all, he had just asked me for money – I was
actually assuring myself, for I grew up where it was once considered better to rob a train or a
bank than ask for help from the guv'ment.

I told the man that he should also go to the One-Stop Center at 833 Sixth Street and inquire about
work, mentioning that I had seen an ad for a food service manager paying $ 20 per hour. I also
suggested that he ask for information as to where he could get some clothes, and about where he
could get an address and telephone number for purposes of seeking employment.

"Once a person is on the street like that, that's it, there is no chance of getting work," Ben said,
after I related my story.

"Surely," I said, "there must be sufficient support for job-seeking available to such persons,
otherwise they are doomed. In Kansas City, for example, there are places where displaced

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 Miami Mirror – True Reflections 

persons can get clothes, showers, a locker to keep things in, access to a telephone and voicemail -
accessible from pay phones - and a mailing address."

"Miami isn't like that," Ben said. "People with that lifestyle won't get help."

"What if they don't want to live like that?" I asked. "Do you mean Miami, with all its riches, will
not help people who fall through the cracks? Surely there must be sufficient support for job-
seeking available to such persons, otherwise they are doomed. I saw places in Kansas City where
displaced persons can get clothes, showers, a locker to keep things in, access to a telephone and
voicemail, accessible from pay phones, and a mailing address.”

"There are shelters," he replied, "but a person only gets one chance, and if he messes up and
doesn't change his lifestyle, he won't be helped again."

Ben did not seem to know much about the local social issues or about the United States for that
matter; e.g. he did not know that Hawaii is a state. An informant in the office mentioned that
several employees in the Miami Beach One-Stop center “are waiting for their papers,” and that
one of the main missions of the staff is to help immigrants get established. The informant
described a pecking order in the office, with Cuban Americans at the top, and said that a non-
profit outfit called Unidad Miami Beach Hispanic Community Center manages the One-Stop.
This informant said that a local Cuban American politician, Matti Bower, was a powerful force
at Unidad.

Ben has a reputation for being "independent" and "honest." He is a nice fellow, very bright to
boot, and has a reputation for independence and honesty. He likes to hand out positive mental
attitude flyers around the office. He seems a bit brainwashed in favor of capital although he
professes sympathy with labor, provided it helps itself. I asked him if he was making $ 10 per
hour at the employment office, since the competition for that wage is stiff around the One-Stop.
“No,” he said, “a little more than that.”

A supervisor, who had become suspicious of me during the course of my guerilla interviews,
noticed that I was conversing with Ben. She rudely interrupted my interview, sending Ben off on
a mission. I later asked him for his card; he scratched the name off someone else's card, wrote
'Ben' above it, and handed it to me.

Ben is in training, and was evidently not yet trained very well on some subjects. I took up the
matter with Omar, Employer Consultant, and recounted what I had been told about the slim
chances of displaced persons getting a hand up so they can find work.

"Who told you that? That's nonsense," Omar said irritably. He reached into a folder, pulled out
four sheets of paper with information on services available and thrust them into my hand. The
pages had been duplicated so many times they were barely legible:

Assistance with food, shelter, utility bills, clothing, and health care might be obtained at various
places. However, I discovered that the information was outdated as many of the employment

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 Miami Mirror – True Reflections 

office's job listings – I heard many people at One-Stop centers complain about stale and bogus
listings.

The information sheet on home-energy assistance bore a handwritten note, "until 8-28-2003"; the
sheet on one-time emergency cash assistance bore a handwritten note, "No more funds, Marilyn,
4/14/02," and another note at the bottom, "Only for those do not Qualify for other programs"
(sic) without mentioning what those other programs might be.

Another page listed only three community shelters for men - one of them closed on weekends.
Two of the shelters listed are on 1st Avenue, where travelers are treated to the sight of over a
hundred indigent people stretched out on the sidewalks with their belongings on any given day.
The remaining page duplicated information on shelters and provided information on institutions
and agencies providing assistance for substance abuse, mental and physical health, and just plain
help. Much of the assistance was no longer available.

The information obviously needed to be updated and consolidated with all other information on
services available, published in an alphabetical directory indexed by services available, and
distributed to everyone concerned, especially to those in need. Certain portions of the
information should be printed in the form of small flyers or cards for handing out to indigent
people there and on the street.

I was informed by another insider that the highly paid South Florida Workforce administration
makes all sorts of excuses including budgetary excuses for not making corrections and
improving services to the poor.

The One-Stop center’s outdated handouts did not include a reference to the Community
Partnership For Homeless, Inc. (CPHI) 1550 North Miami Avenue, Miami Florida 33136, Tel.
305.329.3000. I found out about CPHI while waiting for the Metro Mover at the Government
Center train station in downtown Miami. A well dressed African American woman carrying a
briefcase asked me for directions – she said was going to a job interview. I chatted with her after
we got on the train - the usual small talk. Lea is her name.

"So how long will it take you to get home if you get the job downtown?" I asked.

"I'm homeless," said Lea pleasantly.

"What?"

"I'm homeless. I was laid off my public services job two months ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry. I'm O.K. I'll get another job."

"You don't look homeless. Where do you stay?"

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 Miami Mirror – True Reflections 

"Close to the School Board station," she said.

“You are not dressed like them,” I nodded towards the unkempt men at the end of the car who
were cursing and drinking from a bottle of wine.

"There's no need to look down and out. We have showers and good clothes."

"What about a phone number for your resume? And the bus fare?"

"An employer can call my social worker, and I can get tokens to go on interviews," she said.

"Aren't you afraid? Isn't the shelter bad?"

"No, I'm not afraid. I'll be all right. The shelter is safe - there is plenty of security."

"I see people wandering around in the streets without any place to go to. They look awful. Some
say they want jobs."

"There's no excuse for that," Lea shook her head. "There's a place to go. There are services. You
can get calls, get mail, get clothes, and job leads too."

"Where?" I asked.

Lea opened her purse, pulled out a CHPI card and handed it to me.

"Keep it," she said, smiling. "And thank you. I enjoyed talking with you."

Editor’s Note:

The above article was prepared in 2005 from notes taken in 2005 and published on the Internet
with links sent to member of South Florida Workforce staff. The new South Florida Workforce
Investment Board executive director, Rick Beasley, was hired that year. Whether or not the
issues raised above and in other articles were adequately addressed by him and his staff is
presently under investigation. The executive director and staff members of “South Florida
Workforce,” a fictitious name for the government board called the South Florida Workforce
Investment Board, are actually employees of Miami-Dade County according to an Interlocal
Agreement between Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties, adopted by Miami-Dade County
Commission Resolution dated March 7, 2006. Several staff members, some of them highly
placed, have anonymously expressed dismay with Mr. Beasley’s policies; their allegations will
be inquired into. The local and state structure of the Workforce system implements the federal
Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which will soon be due for reenactment. Therefore the issues
are of national import, and readers are invited to comment on their positive and negative
experiences at One-Stop centers throughout Florida and the nation. (November 06, 2010)

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