'Our Hearts Won't Let Us Walk Away': Nonprofits Still Seek Parity

San Francisco CA

09 December, 2021

8:00 PM

Description

By Anlan Cheney, Mission Local December 8, 2021 Debbi Lerman's message, like her colorful hair, is hard to ignore. As director of the Human Services Network, a coalition of nearly 80 nonprofit agencies in San Francisco, she recounts how front-line workers at these community-based organizations have struggled to get paid the same wages as their city-employed counterparts. This is an inequity her network has fought to remedy since its founding in 1997. "It is a universal issue across our sector that our nonprofit contractors are underfunded and unable to raise wages to the level where they can compete with the city, with the public sector," she said. The largest disparities are seen between salaried, certified professionals like psychologists and nurse practitioners. Most nonprofits can't even begin to compete with the salaries offered by the city, for-profit entities, and other employers in this space. To read the full article, click here. Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.