My Nonprofit Reviews

First off I've never been in SLA, however I have a close friend that's in SLA. So my opinion comes from a person on the outside that's looking in and not from actual first hand knowledge. My friend doesn't go into details alot as apparently it's against the rules to discuss what goes on at these places and even to disclose the location.

After reading many of the stories here a red flag quickly popped up. So many, in fact almost all of these stories have the same phrases or few words that repeat over and over in every review. Almost as if this was a requirement for the person who wrote it and as one of the very few low rating reviews claims it is a requirement. As a person who has wrote and read many reviews over several years, is ranked in top 10% of reviews viewed, and has well over 500,000 likes on submitted reviews, all the 5 star reviews here sound like a script that someone was giving and told to follow while writing the review. Also most come from people who are directors or house seniors or some other person of authority.

I'm sure SLA does help alot of people and every house is different but in general they are not the light in the dark they claim to be. The negative reviews here are very on point and accurate and should not be over looked. This place is all about making money.

Don't be fooled by the "nonprofit" bit. (I'll dig into the nonprofit status later) As a former short term board member for a 501C Non profit organization, I can tell you that profits play a huge role in these organizations and in the everyday activities of these organizations..In fact profits are the primary concern because the more profitable these organizations are, the more tax free money they stack in the bank, allows them to provide "discounted services" for those who can't afford the services, however they rarely do and often those services are paid for by state and federal grants and private tax deductible donations. Most importantly what profits allow is for people like the Director of Operations and upper level people to, with board approval, pay themselves an extremely high salary that increases yearly as long as profits(money in the bank) increases. The board of directors I was on was asked to approve a pay increase from $1,200 a week to $1,500 per week for the upcoming year, this was 6+ years ago and the everyday workers was making $12 or less per hr bringing home less than $400 per week.

The location of my friends SLA housing is an apartment in the ghetto that has a long history of drug use and sales within the complex. It's common to smell weed in the complex and for the police to visit the complex.
SLA has several apartments together and they put 6 sometimes 7 people in 1 apartment. They are charged $225 per week each. 6x$225= $1350 per week. Which covers the monthly rent and gives them 3 weeks worth of profits. $1350x3= $4050 per month income per apartment. The money is automatically taken from there paychecks every week. Yes, $225 per week is about what my friend would need to pay for housing, but that would be housing on there own and not shared with 5 other strangers. Everyone chips in to pay for the gas in the van. If you don't work, your kicked out. The only excuse is if you go to work and the job sends you back because of lack of work. You work in 1 of 2 different jobs they provide, doing general labor, regardless of your past work experience and/or education level. Because the transportation they provide, and your required to use, makes several stops they are required to leave for work almost 3hrs before shift start and its almost 3hrs after they get off before they return back home. They are also required to do homework daily even after a 16hr work day. They can not have Dr prescribed medications if it's a narcotic regardless of how long they have been prescribed these meds. If for some reason your kicked out, and it's very easy to be kicked out, they kick you out with only a hour or two notice and put you out on the street, then they charge you a extra $500 if they allow you to come back a few days later. This is not how a treatment center should operate. NOONE should be put out on the street because of a relapse. A person that relapses should be taken to a 72hr detox and brought back, NOT KICKED OUT ON THE STREET. The house seniors are who ever has been there the longest and wants to be in charge over everyone. House rules change each time the house senior is changed and this place has a high turn over rate. If your liked by the current house senior your good, if not it's just a matter of days or hours before they have you kicked out over something. They do not provide info or resources on help with things like section 8 housing, affordable housing, food stamps, grants or assistance for education, future child care, housing, DSS, family court, child support, or future legal obligations. They do not provide mental health, or individual counseling with certified counselors. They require you to attend 3 generic AA/NA meetings per day, meetings that anyone off the street can walk into and join at any time. One day your room mate may be someone that hasn't done meth in 3 days then 2 days later your new room mate is still detoxing from shooting up herion for the past 4 years and possibly has HIV/AIDS, HepC, COVID19, STD, or any other various spreadable condition.

I could go on even more but frankly I've invested enough time already. This program may help some but if it's possible look elsewhere for a true certified treatment center that can provide individual care and doesn't exploit those people with addictions. If a person doesn't want to stop, the most expensive center in the world will not be able to help them.