No Soup for You?

$50 million for nonprofits! That's what I like to hear. Well, until we get to the details.  The Washington Post had this to say, from the First Lady we Love to Love, Michelle Obama: 

"The idea is simple: Find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country," she said.

Mrs. Obama added, "By focusing on high-impact, results-oriented nonprofits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust."

The rah-rah in my throat died halfway through reading that. Who will decide what programs are effective? What does success mean? It's not the devil that's in these details; it's the possibility that some good nonprofits won't get federal cash because their parachute's a different color than the government's Air Force 1.  

Case in point: A soup kitchen close to home feeds more than 500 homeless men and women each week, using primarily donations. The mostly-volunteer staff call the homeless clients by name, and the space is free of violence, drugs, and prostitution. People who come in hungry leave full, and regulars feel enough ownership they enforce policies on their own, occasionally breaking up fights between new clients. "Man, they shouldn't have disrespected the kitchen," they'll say afterward to anyone who will listen. 

Success at the soup kitchen is feeding and respecting people who are often hungry and disrespected. But clients leave the soup kitchen as mentally ill, addicted, and jobless as when they came in.

We could take bets on whether the soup kitchen will get some of the Obama money. But its work is only results-oriented if having a full stomach counts as results. Somehow I don't think that's the worthy effectiveness the government's looking for.