MESO and FACE, simply solid solutions

The language used by board directors and foundation funders when discussing the daily work of Family and Community Empowerment (FACE) and its parent organization Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO) sounds sort of scholarly. It’s the vocabulary of social scientists. Imagine white lab coats. Slide rules and clipboards. You can almost hear staff meetings framed inside community development concepts like "sociocultural transition," like "economic integration." Serious stuff.

And while this savvy nonprofit’s work is in fact driven by solid research and measurable outcomes, the urgency of FACE clients’ circumstances and the simplicity of the organization’s solutions, are familiar to everyone. Everyone who’s ever lost a good job, ever left a bad marriage or a beloved homeland. Anyone in major transition. Any family at some societal distance from integrating into America’s complex economic mainstream.

People reeling with life transitions are at risk of losing economic viability. Losing connectedness to cashflow — to paying rent, covering utilities and buying groceries, to put it plain. FACE and its umbrella organization MESO are simply about keeping people struggling with life transitions firmly connected to the metro area’s marketplace.

Both groups, according to executive director Nita Shah, "provide hands-on assistance for families to become economically self-sufficient, through entrepreneurship." What’s more, because Portland and Beaverton are international gateway cities, FACE and MESO’s business development services are delivered with a culturally specific focus. No off-the-rack suits, shirts, shorts, or small business services. Not here.

Wake-up call, a bad one

A community tragedy rattled the founders of FACE into action, nearly three years ago. This local tragedy had at its core several of those risky transitions mentioned earlier. All at once. And it took away an entire family not integrated into mainstream social and financial services.

Maybe you recall the news story: An educated and skilled immigrant working dad’s silicon forest firm went from thrilling to faltering as Oregon’s economy contracted disastrously, particularly at its disconnected margins where immigrant and ethnic minority communities live. Strikes One and Two.

Mom’s home-based (cash only) salon business seemed capable of carrying household expenses, but she could not carry a bank mortgage. No books — no institutional credit. No way. Strike Three.

If this were a baseball game and if a generous ump extended their time at bat, then the self-esteem loss linked to this proud man’s income crash, plus the dreaded loss of face with Old World family, friends, and community would’ve made it strikes four and five. If three strikes is bad, five is fatal.

No one answered a very worried grandpa’s phone calls. Day or night. Calls from his grandson’s elementary school went to voicemail. And stayed there. The inevitable call from the county coroner investigators confirmed the worst — no, it was worse than anyone dared imagine. That once ambitious and warm-hearted dad ended his wife’s life, then their son’s life, then his own.

Founding FACE

In 2009, South Asian Oregon elders and activists, reeling with this community tragedy, had a long thoughtful look at the familiar underlying causes: A family’s overwhelming transitions; a woman’s lack of integration into America’s financial mainstream; their inevitable slide into social isolation. Their silence about their situation. Their despair.

The founders of FACE went straight to work on solutions. They started with the simplest ones, the ones based on two sure assumptions: First, energetic new Americans’ love of education; make learning about social services and financial resources culturally accessible, then watch information-famished immigrants show up early and leave late. Second, give naturally entrepreneurial women a tiny loan and a big picture of their local marketplace — a proposition that earned South Asian microcredit guru Muhammed Yunus a Nobel Peace Prize for economics — then take half a step back and watch those ladies’ families take off.

FACE already had a firm base to build on. Founders added resources to the success of MESO, the successor organization of MEND (Micro Enterprise Neighborhood Development), a program of the Black United Fund of Oregon. Both nonprofit corporations built credibility on focused training and tailored resourcing of their business clientele.

On the gala evening of December 1, FACE and MESO will present their proud people and products to the public. "This year," says Ms. Shah, "our clients and supporters are volunteering their time and talent to bring an exciting multicultural dance event and an artisan marketplace, to celebrate all our accomplishments."

And it will be an energetic celebration, a mix of elegant and muscular classical Indian, passionate Latin, and heart-pounding African dance ensembles. Among them, local and international headliners Kalabharathi School of Dance; the National Dance of Ghana’s Mathias Yawo Galley; the high-flying acrobatic troupe Kazum; North Portland’s very own Lion King- and Cirque du Soleil-acclaimed performing artist Kemba Shannon. All of them, and many more acts packed into one rainy Pacific Northwest evening.

The event’s international marketplace opens for holiday shoppers at 5:30pm, admission is free. Advance tickets for the performance portion of MESO/FACE’s annual fundraiser are $25. Five dollars more if bought at the door. Dance performances on stage and overhead begin at 7:00pm.

According to executive director Shah, funds raised at the evening event will be reinvested in MESO/FACE clients. Tickets are available at <www.mesopdx.org> and are tax deductible as a charitable contribution.