I'm on the Board of Directors of a nonprofit that runs Sober Living houses in Los Angeles' SFV. On Tuesday, July 23, 2013 I rang "My Friend's Place" (MFP) to offer the use of a vacant house we have, for their homeless clients. It is EXTREMELY difficult for "at-risk" youth to find housing in Los Angeles, because of the obvious need for a credit rating, security deposit, etc... There are a lot of homeless youth in the city who somehow manage to hold onto their jobs even though they're homeless, but still can't afford to pay for, and/or find a place to live.
I rang MFP seven times, nobody answered the phone. Each time I tried a different extension, it went straight to Voice Mail. I think it was one of those "Virtual Office" type voice mails.
Later that day I got a phone call from Taylor Wilkerson at MFP. She was very friendly and helpful. She suggested I go to their office in Hollywood and meet up with a Caseworker. I said I had been trying to do just that, and make an appointment - but she was the first to call me back. She said I should just come to their offices on Hollywood Blvd anytime, they'd be open until 5:30 PM.
When I got to the office, the door was locked. There was a broken doorbell. I stood there until someone finally buzzed me in. I walked down a long, narrow outdoor courtyard. There was another entrance door, but it was also locked. Everything was enclosed in a kind of giant, outdoor cage. There were a few people in the courtyard/cage thing, but none of them knew Taylor Wilkerson, or how to access the upstairs offices. Right then, two large young men BURST out of the previously locked doors and RAN up on me. They looked like they were totally pumped on adrenaline: either very scared, or wanted to fight, or both. It was very, very strange - to say the least. They "escorted" me through the previously locked door to a receptionist's desk. He said he had no idea who Taylor was, and that they had closed at 3:30PM. I said, Taylor works upstairs and has her own phone extension, he might want to call her on it! She did also invite me to the office which is, in fact, open until 5:30. He kind of ignored me after that, so I went over and sat down in the lobby.
About ten minutes later, Alexis McLeod came downstairs and identified herself as the Manager. She was very friendly and outgoing, but seemed to be very concerned about how I knew about their organization, if I knew any of the kids who go there, if I knew anyone who works there who would somehow already know me, what I "wanted" from MFP, etc.
The whole time I got the underlying impression that nobody at MFP believed me, and they seemed very fearful and suspicious at all times. They simply couldn't take what I was saying at face value, and acted like I was actually there for some other, more nefarious (yet unknown) reason. I never made it to anyone's office, nor was I asked to sit down.
When I got back to my office I Emailed Alexis McLeod with photos of the house and an URL for our Craig's List ad, so she could have photos of it for the Caseworkers. I also mentioned I'd rather not go back to their office because of my experience during the day at their office. The next day she Emailed me back and said their "Clinical Director" did not want to provide any of their clients referrals for the available housing.
Instead of typing out Emails, I rang Alexis directly. She said there is no broken buzzer, the door was open, nobody "burst" out at me, everybody knows Taylor, I'm just being "overly dramatic", etc... I wound up hanging up on her. I rang back and asked for Taylor, because she had seemed more human and reasonable than Alexis. When Taylor picked up her phone, she immediately connected me right back to Alexis McLeod! Alexis told me that they considered the ONE time I visited their office to be "Harassment" (Even though Taylor set up the appointment), and that I also not ring them again because I am "harassing" them!
Clearly these people are not used to dealing with the public, and would rather hide behind security doors, voice mail, surveillance cameras, and the like. They treated me like some kind of high-risk prisoner who should not be trusted in any way, and when I brought that up for her to acknowledge, she pretended I was threatening her, so that she could hide behind her job and accuse me of doing something wrong, instead! Not exactly the kind of behavior you'd expect from a charity that is supposed to be accountable for itself to the community.
I'm glad that MFP feeds those kids (or whatever it is that they say they do), but the people I met who work at MFP act crazy and overly paranoid. I have no idea why they are so suspicious and fearful of outsiders, but I'd imagine it is because something else is going on in there, that they don't want people to find out about.
Why else would MFP actively discourage someone from the community, who actually has something to offer their clients? read more
