Caritas Of Austin

I worked at Caritas of Austin as a Housing Stability Specialist in the Rapid Rehousing Program. I first want to say that a large portion of the frontline staff (from the lobby, kitchen, direct service programs) are REALLY great people and actually care about the clients and the community- usually going ABOVE AND BEYOND for the clients!! However, then you have management staff that are borderline delusional on the reality of how to appropriately run a non-profit. I'll start at the top. The Executive Director is an older white woman that is the epitomy of the White Savior Complex- so much so that it almost feels like its bordering on white supremacy. She constantly is sending out emails of poems and "inspirational" videos and telling us how proud she is to have us working so hard... when in reality she does not know what our work actually looks like. During COVID we were introduced to her "ethnic" room of her house where she has art pieces from different countries/cultures hanging on the wall.. can someone say cultural appropriation?! She holds a meeting with lower level staff monthly to hear comments/concerns of staff, but often dismisses actual concerns brought to the table (aka mostly about management styles) and says to take it to HR- THEN when there are a flood of HR reports holds another all staff meeting to talk about the lack of communication going on in the agency. In one of the all staff meetings she gifted herself a nice $1000 for being at the agency for 10 years.. why would the highest paid employee even be eligible for this?! There are two deputy directors that oversee two branches of programs, one male one female. The female one was the one that was my supervisor's boss, and every time I had issues with my boss being hostile or abusive towards us, the deputy director would basically gaslight us in a very "caring and supportive" manner making us feel like she was an ally... boy was I wrong! She is basically the master puppeteer of her abusive and incompetent program managers and NEVER held the accountable for their poor management!! This woman also repeatedly advised me to continue meeting with a client that was using meth at the time that caused him to become extremely agitated and aggressive and never once considered my safety in that situation.. only wanted the "problem" solved. There was another incident were a staff member did not feel comfortable meeting with her direct supervisor because he did not respect her pronouns and was often hostile towards her, when she went to the deputy director to ask her to sit in on the meeting the deputy director told her that she was asking for too much and not everyone could accommodate her needs. such BS and not inclusive whatsoever!! Next, the biggest monster of them all is the program manager of the Housing Stability Program, my direct supervisor. This woman does not need to be in the social services industry. She is malicious, manipulative, and abusive. If you are a community partner you will know exactly who I am talking about. She is extremely unprofessional in meetings and staffings and acts like she is better than everyone else and is extremely difficult to work with. She is antagonistic towards clients and is not client-centered AT ALL! She lied to me about my clients funding one time because she did not want to rehouse him and wanted him to move back home with his family out of Austin. She had repeated instances of drinking on the job and also using recreational drugs during work hours- there is even a google review about it!
IF YOU DID NOT WANT TO READ MY LONG-WINDED RANT PLEASE AT LEAST READ THIS: Caritas is able to genuinely help clients because of our own individual passions for the work. All lower level staff (mainly case managers) are pushed out because of the poor management and the abuse that we are put through. Staff turnover is very high and ultimately effects the clients negatively!!! We are not able to provide the best service possible because we are worked into the ground and severely burned out.

In the past ten years I asked Caritas once for help and they denied it to me because although I had an ID I objected to display my whole family's documentation, things like: birth certificates and social security cards, I feel that the bill alone should be enough, that backs up their documentation. In Texas most agencies are careless in the handling of such sensitive data, you can find it laying around in their office or sitting in a "file box" on a chair next to you while talking to staff. When charities receive money they love it even more if it's cash and anonymous, however to help a mother with three very small children back then (ten years ago) they almost ask for you to leave a limb of yours with them. Within the last two weeks (November 2010) I called and left a message for them to help me and NO one has bothered to contact me.