One hand in the river, one hand upstream

Upstream. It may be the most over-used word in social services today. "We need to work upstream to resolve that issue, so we can stop dealing with the results."

I'm sure the phrase came from some issue that really did happen upstream, like pollution into a freshwater stream, or the lack of water flow to a downstream community caused by excessive water use upstream. But now the phrase comes with this picture -- the river is full of people being washed downstream. Do you keep pulling them out, or do you go upstream to figure out why people are in the river in the first place?

PTSD in veterans. We need to fix that upstream. Does that mean ending wars? I'm all for it. But we're fighting a really big war machine.

Hunger. We need to work upstream. Where? The system that doesn't assist enough families with enough money for food stamps, the system that doesn't help them to become self-sufficient and not need assistance, the system that doesn't encourage them to stay in school and get decent jobs, or the food distribution system in all communities that doesn't get extra food to the right places so that all are fed? Which upstream problem do we target?

Homelessness. We need to tackle this upstream. Should we advocate for more affordable housing, deal with the mental health issues of thousands of homeless people, provide additional Section 8 HUD vouchers in local communities, turn foreclosed housing into shelters, or some other answer?

Meanwhile, people are still suffering, hungry and homeless. Do we work upstream or do we help ease their suffering, feed them and shelter them? Each answer takes people, time and money. Families affected by one member with PTSD create issues for generations. The mother of two children can't tell her kids that she'll be able to feed them in two years when she finishes her degree. Study after study shows that housing people is more cost-effective than leaving them homeless.

Community problems require both solutions: people to reach in the river and keep people from drowning, and people to hike upstream and figure out why people are in the river in the first place. Without the hands-on community services, these are real people who will drown in the wake. Without advocacy upstream, we will never stop having to rescue people. Every problem requires both hands-on service and advocacy.