Originally Posted by
professorscott
The question indicates you are missing some information about the history or structure of Focus: Hope, so I'll fill in some gaps. Focus: Hope was started by Fr. Bill Cunningham and Eleanor Josaitis, both now gone, as a part of the response to the 1967 riots. It is a non-profit and always has been, and a part of their charter has been, for a long time, to provide decent jobs to folks, especially in areas where there are few such jobs. It has always been a very lean organization; there are very few people [[six) with executive or managerial titles, and somebody has to run the thing.
The layoffs are just like manufacturing layoffs anywhere - if they don't have a market for everything they can produce, then they have to produce less, for the time being, while they work to develop additional markets for their products. If you are truly concerned about the people losing their jobs, one direct thing you can do to help is to make a donation at focushope.edu. I have made in-kind donations over the years, helping them with this or that technical challenge, and their work is impressive. This news is quite unfortunate.