Contemporary Problems

The two agencies that I am compared are the local Department of Social Services and a private agency called CARITAS. Both agencies are designed to help the homeless that are residing in the city of Richmond. We will examine both agencies Mission Statements, Vision Statement and the services that they offer their clients.
City of Richmond Department of Social Services When going to the website for the city of Richmond Department of Social Services this is what I found for their Mission Statement: To strengthen families, assure safety, promote self-sufficiency, and improve the quality of life for all citizens of the city of Richmond The Vision statement is as follows: Empowering all citizens to attain, regain and sustain a healthy independence. This agency basically is to help the poverty stricken with services to help them maintain a lifestyle and stay in their communities. .The services include but not limited to employment services. This program will supply you bus tickets to go on job interviews. But they do not train you for any job skills. They offer you food stamps to help in purchasing food but then they tell you that employment of at least 25 hours are necessary to maintain the food stamps and depending on the amount of the income you are receiving you might get terminated from the program. This is a set back because then you have to include food in the budget along with your rent and utilities. They are not doing the all that can be done because of cuts in funding, embezzlement from the company. Poor decisions on the director of the program. All these things leave the workers frustrated and unwilling to tell clients what type of help they can offer and therefore the clients are not helped. The local agency is governed by the state of Virginia. Even with the state allocating the money the agency is still not living up to its potential. There needs to be a revamp within the agency starting from the director to the receptionist. CARITAS This agency main goal is to empower the homeless so that they can return to the community and maintain this lifestyle. The Mission statement for this agency is: CARITAS mobilizes Greater Richmond through its congregations to protect individuals and families in crisis and empowers those who strive for housing independence. The Value statement or Vision statement of the agency is as follows:
Innovation: Mobilizes us to push for solutions that inspire, engage, and energize others while moving goals, people, processes and our mission forward. Innovation creates and fosters an environment where resourcefulness, risk-taking, thoughtful creativity and continual self-reflection fuse to form powerful and transforming results.
Integrity: Calls us to hold ourselves to the highest standards as a model to our clients, peers and community. We are committed to keeping our word in all things and never compromising our values, doing all things for the benefit of our clients, partners and mission.
Passion: Empowers us with a belief in our mission and the energy, enthusiasm and perseverance to carry it out. Passion commits us to sacrifice, to be dedicated and to strive for excellence in everything we do.
Honor: Compels us to interact with and affirm all people with the highest degree of respect. We place immeasurable value on the unique gifts of each human being and the contribution that he or she can make in the world.
Servant Leadership: Leads us to put service before self in all our interactions with each other and with the community that we serve. It fosters shared success and is preferable to individual gain.
Achievement: Commits us to an unwavering desire to produce extraordinary outcomes. We will clearly measure the results of our work and use them to achieve goals that support our mission and positively