The Bay Area Reporter - February 3, 1998
Stephen LeBlanc, ACT UP/Golden Gate Writers Pool

Misrok did not get sick, "and I became increasingly distressed that I wasn't doing work that challenged me. I heard of a project that helped HIV+ people find employment called Positive Resource and immediately registered with them. I thought they would understand how I had gotten stuck for so many years."

Today, Misrok is the coordinator of Positive Resource, and both his and the Project's accomplishments are impressive. In 1997, Positive Resource held employment assistance orientations for 433 new clients and placed 482 HIV+ people in jobs. It established a computer skills training program that trained HIV+ students in four different courses. During 1997, Positive Resource completed a transfer from its original home at the AIDS/HIV Life Center to merge with AIDS Benefits Counselors (ABC).

Services provided by Positive Resource are free to HIV+ people and employers and have expanded during the last three years. "When I first volunteered in '92," says Misrok, "we did strictly job matching and spent most of our efforts contacting potential employers, but volunteer support has allowed us to provide more services. In 1995, we began a weekly vocational counseling workshop with sessions on interviewing, self-employment, job searching, etc. Since the merger [with ABC], we've added voice mail services, educational workshops, and a support group for HIV+ people beginning new jobs."

Misrok cites the project's computer training courses as one of its most successful endeavors. "Our clients were hesitant to take classes not specifically set up for people with HIV. It's terrifying for someone with HIV to make the decision to plan a future. I thought that if we set up specific classes for HIV+ people, they would be comfortable taking the risk."

The assessment was apparently correct. Since the first class in December 1996, Positive Resource has filled all of the 98 available class slots and roughly 200 students are wait-listed for future classes. "I approached the Support Center for Nonprofit Management, and they agreed to let us use their computer lab, which they had never done for an outside group. I spoke at the Castro Lions Club about what we were trying to do, and through that found a volunteer instructor who established several of our courses. The students have accomplished amazing things. Five of our multimedia class students, most of whom had barely used a computer before, are just completing a full interactive CD ROM project through the Bay Area Video Coalitions Media Link Program that includes a multimedia tour of three San Francisco neighborhoods. We have received a $50,000 grant from Academy of Friends so we can establish our own computer lab to provide more classes."

Community support makes the difference

Misrok credits the success of the agency to many factors. "In 1996, our budget was under $30,000, so we've always relied on strong volunteer support. Our neutral location [at California and Van Ness] is accessible to many different communities. We are sensitive to how long it can take a person with HIV to make an employment change and have built relationships with other assistance sources such as California Department of Rehabilitation. We are in partnership with the International Association of Machinists Life Employment Program (IAM CARES) and have gotten great support from the Golden Gate Business Association. Many people with HIV don't realize the high level of employment and training support available, and we make referrals to all the different available programs."

Other community activists point to Misrok's leadership as the source of much of Positive Resource's success. Cynthia Goldstein, an attorney with the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, reflected the sentiment of many people asked to comment about Positive Resources. "Mark has done a wonderful job. He is extremely dedicated and cares very much about the people he serves. I don't think Mark is looking for glory; he is looking for the grit, and I really admire him for that," she said.

"He was a godsend to that agency," echoed David Bach, of Bach Personnel.

Enter the AIDS bureaucracy

Until recently, Positive Resource assisted HIV+ people getting jobs with little attention from established AIDS agencies and little financial support. "Even in 1996, many organizations didn't understand why people with HIV would want employment services," explains Misrok. "Some gay-owned businesses were always good at helping HIV+ people stay working, but lots of other employers, even many AIDS organizations, weren't educated about the issue at all."

That has changed dramatically in the last few months. Community activists expressed surprise at the amount of attention given the issue by the Mayor's Summit on AIDS & HIV and at the recommendations of the Summit's Subcommittee on Workplace Entry and Re-entry. Some activists fear that an effective grass-roots agency is about to be replaced by an unnecessary bureaucracy. The 37 Workplace Entry and Re-entry recommendations in Mayor's Summit Report include creating a new committee of the San Francisco Health Commission, a new Employment Program Unit and Unit Director within the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), and an advertising campaign.

"The HIV+ community didn't ask for this and doesn't need it," said HIV Health Services Planning Council Co-Chair Tom Calvanese. "We have an excellent, community-based agency with a great reputation meeting these needs and don't need DPH to become an employment service. If the Mayor wants to increase employment opportunities for HIV+ people, the city should give more financial support to Positive Resource and other existing agencies."

Laura Thomas, another Planning Council member, rolled her eyes when asked about the Subcommittee recommendations. "Let's just say I was surprised to read the recommendation that the Mayor appoint a member of the Health Commission to the HIV Planning Council.

"One of the two co-chairs of the subcommittee is already on the Planning Council, but has not participated in the planning process during the last year and is about to be thrown off the Council because he doesn't attend meetings."

Thomas pointed to subcommittee recommendations that seem to undermine the authority of the Council and added, "The Council has done a great job in the last two years of becoming representative of the epidemic and knowledgeable of the needs of people with AIDS. I don't support any effort to undermine its authority."

ACT UP/Golden Gate activist Jeff Getty was characteristically blunt when asked about the Subcommittee Report. "I was disgusted when I read that section. Why wasn't Mark Misrok on the 14-member workplace reentry subcommittee or even listed in the two dozen acknowledgments? Why wasn't [AIDS Benefits Counselor Executive Director] Paul Causey?" asked Getty. "Positive Resource is an amazing project that should be supported to meet this growing need, but instead we get a recommendation for more government bureaucracy and an ad campaign. I'd like to know how many of the people who had a hand in drafting the recommendations stand to see their own professional and political careers benefit. The recommendations are about creating jobs all right - more jobs for AIDS bureaucrats."

Misrok is reluctant to talk about the issues raised by Getty. "I was not invited to be on the Workplace Subcommittee or to attend the forum on employment held the day after the summit," he said. "I am worried that a city-administered effort will not be as sensitive to the needs of HIV+ people as I think we have been."

When ABC/Positive Resource Executive Director Paul Causey was asked whether a city bureaucracy or his agency should provide expanded HIV+ employment support, he replied, "Look at the numbers. There are 15,000 HIV+ people in San Francisco, including people who don't know they have HIV, people who have always worked, and people who cannot work. Positive Resource today has over 1,234 active clients. AIDS Benefit Counselors has about 1,800 active clients, a third of whom have already talked to us about returning to work. So even if there are 3,000 HIV+ people actively looking to enter the workforce, and I don't think there are anywhere near that many, we have already done intakes and established relationships with maybe 2,000 of them. Why set up a separate program with new staff, a new director, and new intakes, when we are capable, with some additional city support, of doing that work?"

For the time being, Positive Resource remains the best source of employment information and assistance for HIV+ individuals seeking employment or to improve their professional skills. Their address is 1675 California Street (at Van Ness), and their phone is (415) 928-1448. They are actively seeking donations of money, volunteer time, office equipment, video equipment, and up-to-date computer equipment. Louis Dunn at the California Office of Rehabilitation can be reached at (415) 904-7147. ABC/Positive Resources is governed by a Board of Directors that meets the 4th Thursday of every month except June, November, and December. The public is welcome, and no advance notice is required.
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