— by Lin McNulty —
Orcas Islander Ethna Flanagan having to consider moving off island to find employment.
Being one in a million is often considered a compliment. But being one of 1.3 million is not a comfortable spot when that’s the number of people nationwide who have just lost their unemployment benefits.
When Congress recently allowed emergency unemployment compensation to expire, 24,414 unemployed workers in Washington lost benefits on December 28, 2013. An additional 37,600 unemployed workers will lose their benefits in the first six months of 2014.
Nationally, 1.3 million is a big number. Statewide, 24,414 is still pretty scary. But when it comes right down to an individual in our tight-knit community, it becomes personal.
This is the situation multi-skilled Islander Ethna Flanagan, mother to a 17-year old son, finds herself in—no more unemployment benefits as of last Saturday.
She has been on Orcas for 12 years, working as a teacher, as a massage therapist, as a program director, always in a position of helping. This last spring, she was laid off from her job with the Early Childhood Assistance Program (ECAP) and qualified for unemployment benefits. Still without a job in October, she filed for an emergency extension. Now, because of Congress’ failure to renew the funding, that’s gone. Simply put—she has no income.
Although moving off-island is something she would never have considered, she is now pursuing employment opportunities in Bellingham and Mount Vernon, or wherever the path leads. It is unknown how many other Orcas islanders are in the same position, having to choose whether to leave for the mainland in hopes of finding a job.
She has applied for a moratorium on her OPAL house, meaning her delinquent principal and interest continue to add up.
She faithfully states she doesn’t want to live in fear, but the tenuous line between faith and fear is palpable in her voice—just under the surface. “I come from a place of love and trust,” she says. “I’m taking confident steps forward.”
Unemployment level statewide is 7 percent. The most recent public unemployment level for San Juan County dates back to 2011; a lot has happened in two years.
Flanagan receives occasional help and gifts from friends and family; however, “this piecemeal thing is not sustainable,” she says. She is occasionally able to pickup a substitute teaching position or house cleaning job, but they are few and far between.
One of her previous positions was as the chairperson for Orcas Family Connections, where she became aware of the number of people needing assistance. She is accustomed to being the giver. Now she finds herself on the receiving end.
It’s important, she notes, to “believe in something greater than myself. Whatever adverse situations get sent, I have a choice to be fearful, or the choice to go with it, knowing that something meaningful and bigger or better is coming.”
“I’m not going hide out,” she resolves. “I’m going to going to follow the breadcrumbs.”
Somebody – please hire Ethna and give her a position where she can use her management, networking, and communication skills! Ethna is responsible, capable, smart, resourceful, giving, positive, energetic, creative, works well with people and ideas, is a team player, has lots of work and life skills, has integrity, can lead and teach, is giving and caring. The island is losing too many good people. If there’s no “positions” for them, then we need to think outside the box and create positions and job descriptions for them, so they can stay.
OI Community Foundation: How about a local “unemployment fund”…Islanders, or anyone, donate to the emergency fund for situations like this….
This person sounds like a real community asset. However, unemployment benefits are there to tide you over until you get a new job, not necessarily a job in the place you want to live. Would that be ideal? Yes, but if there are no suitable local positions, then you go where the jobs are until you can find something local. To me an emergency fund is for emergencies—medical or your house burns down—not for an event (like losing benefits) that you had months to plan for.
Long-term unemployment is only a step away from homelessness, and hunger. There are millions of Americans that currently fall into this category… millions. It does not take long for one to run thru their savings when there’s no income coming in.
When, in your opinion, does such a shared issue on the massive scale that it currently is become an emergency Mable, and where do you feel that all of the unemployed, single mothers of working class age, who like Ethna, are long-term home-owners on Orcas move to? As a long-term unemployed home-owner myself I’ve been fighting this issue for several years. Let’s see… do I move somewhere else, and then incur the additional expense of having to move, and paying for living expenses elsewhere while still having a house payment, and obligations here? This is difficult for me to comprehend.
Mable, I find your comment to be both callous, and uncaring. This is an emergency on a national scale if I’ve ever seen one.
A previous letter-writer pretty much stated that being unable to find employment is not an emergency, even after months and months of trying to get hired. This is completely out of touch with the reality faced by people who are skilled, conscientious, wanting a job and still unable to find gainful steady employment either locally or elsewhere. Neither they nor you nor anyone else can “plan” for the actions of other people, in this case potential employers both here and off-island, who simply and massively do not need their services.
Micheal & Thea – seems to me that you’ve twisted what Mable Hastings wrote. Unemployment benefits are temporary, with a finite time limit, to give you time to not only look for employment but to make some hard decisions (moving, selling your house, changing careers, getting training/education to qualify for a new job, etc). The “emergency” is when you lose your job and you should be scrambling from that point on to be able to provide for yourself and your family. No one is saying it is easy (been there many times) or not painful, but a lot of people these days seem to think the emergency is when the government check stops arriving. I have tremendous empathy for the unemployed, especially now in the no job growth period since the crash in ’08, millions have had to walk away from their homes and family to find work elsewhere. Hard times.
John has stated it accurately and correctly. During all economic declines throughout history, regardless of the reason, people have adapted and made their way. Everyday people move geographically to survive and/or improve their lives. Living in an area of limited income possibilities such as Orcas Island and not understanding or accepting the consequences of such a location has a name. It is called being “irresponsible.” Anyone living here must be prepared for the eventuality that the money source may dry up and you will have to go to where the money is. It is not the responsibility of the local community to support you indefinitely until you can work it out. You may loose everything. You made the choice to live here so except the consequences of your decisions. The rest of us have to. If your family and friends will not support you for the rest of your life why should I?
I may have to be homeless someday as it could happen to anyone. You will not read an article by Lynn or anyone else asking you to take responsibility for my life. I will do that.
Once I had to leave the island to find employment elsewhere, and a longtime islander who’d inherited all her money said, “Well, if people can’t afford to live here they should leave!” I do not accept this reasoning as either honorable or rational. Before many current islanders moved here, there was an equanimity to island culture, where people were accepted and respected for who they were and what they uniquely contributed to the fabric of island life, not whether they were economically compatible with social cliques and the more affluent. That equanimity is sadly eroding before our eyes, and it is neither justifiable nor acceptable. And as to the rationality — there is a jobs crisis in this country, and there are very few jobs to get even if you do move to the mainland. To cry “get a job!” and consider that a solution is purely ignorant of the facts. There is no “where the money is”. The economy is getting worse fast for the vast majority of our people, and the best and the brightest are not the 1% that holds the funds. The best and the brightest are people like Ethna Flanagan, who work both hard and smart to make real & valuable contributions to our society, present and future, and for whom there are no jobs. I suggest that we all put our hands on our hearts for a moment, and search for the guts and creativity to actually work to build a better society, with full employment, rather than rest on any arrogance and laurels we may assume. In the end, that is all that can save this young experiment in democracy, as well as millions of people.